- Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas that controls blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. People with diabetes may use an injectable form of insulin to control their blood glucose levels. Recently, investigators have found that patients who use a certain type of artificial long-acting insulin, Lantus (insulin glargine), have a higher risk of developing cancer.

· Three recent observational studies have been published which show an increase risk of developing cancer in patients who use Lantus (insulin glargine).

· One of these studies published in the journal Diabetologia, analyzed information from 127,000 insulin-treated patients. The study showed a significant link between cancer and insulin glargine use compared to patients who use similar doses of human insulin.
In the patients using Lantus (insulin glargine), there was an increase of one person with cancer for every 100 people receiving human insulin.
This study also showed a dose-dependent increase in cancer risk.
Patients using 10 units of Lantus (insulin glargine) had an increase cancer risk of 9 percent and patients using 50 units of Lantus (insulin glargine) had an increased cancer risk of 31 percent.

· The United States’ FDA is currently reviewing these studies and the safety profile of Lantus (insulin glargine).

· We know that insulin has activities similar to human growth hormone and that excessive human growth hormone can increase the risk of developing certain forms of cancer. This is an intriguing topic. There is a real possibility that these reports of an increased cancer risk will be validated in time.

July 7th 2009
Cristopher Geiler, M.D.