A new study has found GLP-1s may reduce the risk of developing obesity-related cancers by 41% compared to bariatric surgery — a benefit researchers believe could be tied to the drugs’ ability to reduce inflammation.
The findings, published May 11 in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal, are based on data from more than 6,000 adults. Researchers in Israel analyzed EMR data from patients in the country with obesity or diabetes who had no prior history of cancer and who either underwent bariatric surgery or were treated with first generation GLP-1 medications from 2010 to 2018.
The study tracked patients for a median of 7.5 years, and in some cases, nearly 13.
Three notes:
- The overall incidence of obesity-related cancers was similar between the GLP-1 and bariatric surgery groups — about 5 to 6 cases per 1,000 person-years — despite the fact that bariatric surgery led to significantly greater weight loss. However, when researchers adjusted for the amount of weight lost, GLP-1s were associated with a 41% relative risk reduction in obesity-related cancers compared to surgery.
This suggests GLP-1s may offer cancer-protective effects beyond what can be explained by weight loss alone. Researchers said this benefit could be linked to GLP-1s’ ability to reduce inflammation, a known driver of several obesity-related cancers. - “The protective effects of GLP-1RAs against obesity-related cancers likely arise from multiple mechanisms, including reducing inflammation,” Dror Dicker of Hasharon Hospital and Rabin Medical Center in Israel and an author on the study, told The Guardian.
Cancer experts not involved in the research described the findings as promising, particularly given limited data on long-term cancer outcomes among patients taking GLP-1s. However, they stressed the need for further study, particularly with newer versions of the drugs, like semaglutide and tirzepatide. - The study had several limitations: It was observational and retrospective, so it cannot establish causality. Researchers evaluated only older GLP-1s such as liraglutide, and the sample size was not large enough to examine specific cancer types. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to validate these findings and better understand the biological pathways involved, researchers said.
