34 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • NOVEMBER 5, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
What you need to know about
the cancer-diabetes connection
Th ere are more connections between
diabetes and cancer than you’d expect.
Research suggests the two can be intimately
related - with some cancer treatments
putting patients at risk for insulin dependence,
and type 2 diabetes greatly increasing
a person’s susceptibility to cancer.
Because cancer and both types 1 and
2 diabetes can weaken the immune system,
people with these disorders are also
at increased risk of of severe illness from
COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Cancer and diabetes
are connected
In type 1 diabetes, the body no longer
suffi ciently produces insulin. In type
2 diabetes, the body may still be producing
insulin, but other metabolic cells of
the body become resistant to its eff ects
(insulin resistance). Insulin, a hormone
the pancreas makes to allow cells to use
glucose, remains the standard treatment
option for millions of people living with
diabetes. In 1978 at City of Hope, a biomedical
research complex and National
Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive
cancer center in Southern California,
Arthur Riggs, Ph.D., and Keiichi Itakura,
Ph.D., conducted research that led to
the invention of synthetic human insulin,
which transformed modern diabetes
management. In 2017, City of Hope
founded the Wanek Family Project for
Type 1 Diabetes, an ambitious program
designed to rapidly translate laboratory
discoveries into new treatments - and
eventually a cure - for type 1 diabetes.
Cancer and diabetes are “two sides of
the same coin” because at a fundamental
level both are disruptions of the body’s
normal metabolism. For example, people
with type 2 diabetes are twice as likely
to develop liver or pancreatic cancer
and run a higher-than-normal risk of
developing colon, bladder and breast cancer.
City of Hope’s Debbie C. Th urmond,
Ph.D., explained that obesity is a major
risk factor for both cancer and type 2 diabetes.
“Excess fat may provoke the disruption
of the body’s normal metabolism
and increase infl ammation, which is a
known trigger for both diabetes and cancer,”
she said.
Diabetes and COVID-19 also
appear to be connected
While there’s still much to learn about
COVID-19, recent data from the CDC
reported more than three-quarters of people
who died from COVID-19 had at least
one preexisting condition. Specifi cally,
diabetes was noted as an underlying condition
in approximately four out of 10
patients. Among people younger than 65
who died from the infection, about half
had diabetes.
Managing diabetes during
COVID-19
People with diabetes - type 1 or type
2 - are more susceptible to contracting
COVID-19 than others, and have poorer
outcomes if they do. City of Hope’s Ping
H. Wang, M.D., noted, “Patients with diabetes
have higher risks of serious complications
and ketoacidosis from COVID-
19,” and explained that warning signs of
severe infection are heightened shortness
of breath, persistent chest pain and
an intense feeling of fatigue. Even mild
symptoms should not be ignored, he said.
If you are experiencing any fl u-like symptoms,
Wang said you should call your
physician and continue to monitor your
blood glucose.
Managing your diabetes as the
fi rst line of defense against
the novel coronavirus
It’s critical that those battling cancer
and/or type 1 or 2 diabetes stay informed
and take necessary precautions, which
may include:
• Controlling underlying medical conditions
better
• Maintaining blood glucose in the target
range
• Engaging in physical activities recommended
by your doctor
• Controlling eating behavior
• Making sure you’re taking all of your
medications correctly
• Social distancing, wearing a face mask
and maintaining hand hygiene
For more information on City of
Hope’s Diabetes & Metabolism Research
Institute, clinical trials and innovative diabetes
research, visit CityofHope.org/diabetes
awareness.
— BPT
/WWW.QNS.COM
