Fat jabs slash breast cancer odds
Weight loss vaccines could significantly improve breast cancer patients’ chances of survival and reduce the chances of the disease returning, scientists claim.
Researchers led by Kristina Tatum of Virginia Commonwealth University found that women who used the blockbuster GLP-1 weight loss injections were up to 65 percent less likely to die from any cause over a 10-year period.
The drugs were also linked to a 56 percent reduced risk of breast cancer recurrence.
Even more surprising, breast cancer patients with type 2 diabetes who took GLP-1 drugs had a 91 percent lower risk of death than those taking insulin or metformin.
The findings suggest a “potential association” between weight-loss vaccines and “improved outcomes” in overweight breast cancer patients or diabetics, the researchers said.
They added: “This study suggests that GLP-1s may offer protective benefits beyond glycemic and weight control, potentially improving survival and risk of recurrence in some female patients with breast cancer.”
The massive study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from 841,831 breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2008 and 2023.
Scientists have long known that obesity and type 2 diabetes can worsen breast cancer outcomes.
“Weight-loss interventions to address obesity in breast cancer patients may improve outcomes,” the researchers wrote.
But not everyone is yet convinced that the miraculous injections are a cancer-killing invention.
Professor Paul Pharoah of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles warned: “The biggest red flag is that the effect sizes are very large.
“To put this in perspective, the most effective chemotherapy regimens reduce relapse by 38 percent.
“These effect sizes cannot be due to the drug and therefore the only plausible explanation is confounding/bias.”
Charles Birts, from the University of Southampton, added: “Overall, these findings are promising and support further clinical investigation, but they should not yet change breast cancer treatment practice.”
Meanwhile, Simon Vincent said the results showed the area was “worthy of further investigation”.
Around 59,000 women and 420 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in Britain each year, making it the second most common cancer in the UK.
