Insulin resistance, the hallmark of type 2 diabetes and a condition often associated with obesity, is paradoxically also an apparent contributor to muscle wasting and severe fat loss that accompanies some cancers, according to new research.

In a one-two punch, a familiar diabetes drug reduced tumors faster and prolonged remission in mice longer than chemotherapy alone, apparently by targeting cancer stem cells, report Harvard Medical School researchers in the Sept. 14 advance online Cancer Research.

University of Iowa researchers have identified a molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function and may help explain why certain drugs for type II diabetes also appear to lower patients' blood pressure. The study is published in the March 5 issue of Cell Metabolism.

Drugs known as thiazolidinediones (TZDs), which are used to treat type 2 diabetes, seem to come with an added side benefit: They lower blood pressure. Now, researchers reporting in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, provide new evidence as to why.

Most clinical trials for new diabetes drugs do not consider the impact medication will have on a patient’s quality of life or other outcomes that are important to patients, such as the risk of developing complications associated with diabetes, according to a Mayo Clinic commentary in the current issue of The Lancet.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that a commonly prescribed diabetes drug kills tumor cells that lack a key regulatory gene called p53. Results from current studies in mice may result in new therapies for a subset of human cancers that tend to be aggressive and resistant to existing treatments.

Two popular drugs used to treat late-onset diabetes may double the risk of heart failure, a new study has found. Researchers who analysed data on 78,000 patients who took Avandia or Actos to treat type 2 diabetes found that it increased the risk of heart failure by up to 100 per cent.

A class of drugs commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes may double the risk of heart failure, according to a new analysis by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

A type 2 diabetes drug taken orally and in widespread use for more than a decade has been found to have distinct advantages over nine other, mostly newer medications used to control the chronic disease, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins.

Amid growing indications that the traditional image of red blood cells (RBCs) falls short of reality, chemists are reporting evidence that RBCs are key participants in a communication system among cells in the bloodstream.

A surprising analysis revealed possible heart risks from the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, reports of side effects to federal regulators tripled.