A new study found that a high level of the protein prostacin in the blood increases the risk of developing diabetes, according to the newspaper.The Guardian“.
Researchers in Sweden and China analyzed the health records of more than 4,500 middle-aged adults over two decades on the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study.
The researchers found that those with the highest levels of prostacin, a protein that circulates in the blood, were more likely to develop diabetes than those with the lowest levels.
Prostacin plays several roles in the body such as regulating blood pressure and blood volume, and it also inhibits the growth of tumors fueled by high blood sugar.
While type 2 diabetes is known to increase the risk of some cancers, including tumors of the pancreas, liver, intestine and endometrium, the biological mechanisms aren’t clear.
After investigating the link between prostacin and diabetes, the researchers looked at whether people with higher levels of the protein had a higher risk of developing cancer.
Writing in the journal Diabetologia, they describe how people with prostacin levels in the top quartile were 43 percent more likely to die from cancer than those with levels in the bottom quartile.
According to the study, participants with high levels of both prostacin and blood sugar were more likely to die from cancer. For every doubling of prostacin concentration, the risk of dying from cancer increased by 24 percent in those without high blood sugar, and by 139 percent in those with high blood sugar.
“Special attention should be given to these individuals,” the authors wrote.
Prostacin was a potential new “risk marker” for diabetes, but it also gave indications of death from cancer, especially in people with high blood sugar, said first author of the study at the Hospital Affiliated with Nanjing University Medical School in China, Shui Bao.
It’s unclear whether an elevated prostacin level plays a role in the disease or is just a biomarker that increases as the condition progresses.
“The relationship between diabetes and cancer is not well understood and this protein may provide a potential common link,” said lead study author at Lund University, Gunnar Engstrom.
“We now need to examine to what extent prostacin is causally associated with these diseases or whether it represents a valuable marker of increased disease risk,” he added.