Possible use of diabetes drug for the treatment of liposarcoma
March 30, 1999: A new report concludes that the diabetes
drug Rezulin (troglitazone) may be useful in the treatment of liposarcoma, a
type of cancer in which primitive fat cells become malignant.
researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical
School in Boston, Massachusetts report that the tumors of three
liposarcoma patients treated with troglitazone showed evidence of
increased maturation and differentiation rates.
authors note that only about 25-50% of patients with poorly
differentiated liposarcoma tumors survive for five years, while those
with relatively well-differentiated tumors have about a 90% five-year
survival rate.
the report says it is not yet clear if troglitazone therapy will
have a real impact on outcomes of liposarcoma patients, but that further
study of the therapy is warranted.
