Professor, Department Chair and Consultant Signe Borgquist is to investigate whether type 2 diabetes increases the risk of breast cancer, and also whether the treatment of breast cancer itself increases women's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has given a grant of almost DKK 7 million to the research project.

2021.02.11 | Lise Wendel Eriksen

Signe Borgquist and Jens Meldgaard Bruun, both doctors and professors, are part of the research team that will examine the correlation between breast cancer and type 2 diabetes Photo: Tonny Foghmar, AUH

Today, 75 per cent of all Danish women who have had breast cancer are still alive at least a decade after being diagnosed. But the women often have to live with delayed complications and an increased risk of suffering from other diseases as a result of the treatment. Type 2 diabetes is a particular focal point for the researchers as there appears to be a two-way correlation here.

A team of researchers headed by Signe Borgquist will therefore use data from the Danish civil registration number (CPR) system, the National Patient Register and the Danish Breast Cancer Group (DBCG), together with different types of biomarkers, to examine whether breast cancer and its treatment increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and whether breast cancer patients with type 2 diabetes have a worse prognosis.

The researchers hope that the project will also lead to a study of the correlation between type 2 diabetes and other cancer types, such as e.g. prostate cancer, which is similar to breast cancer in that it is hormone-related.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has made a grant of DKK 6.8 million to the three-year project. Researchers from Aarhus University, Aarhus University Hospital, Odense University Hospital and the Steno Diabetes centres in Aarhus and Odense are behind the project.

Contact

Professor, Department Chair & Consultant Signe Borgquist
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Oncology
Mobile: (+45) 2262 4525
Email: signe.borgquist@oncology.au.dk

This coverage is based on press material from Aarhus University Hospital.