GLPwatch

Dulaglutide as a demethylating agent to improve the outcome of breast cancer.

Epigenomics · 2023

Last updated 2026-05-28

In lab tests, the diabetes drug dulaglutide increased the activity of certain genes in breast cancer cells by up to four times by removing chemical markers that normally block their function. When combined with half the usual dose of the chemotherapy drug methotrexate, dulaglutide helped slow tumor growth more than methotrexate alone.

AI summary of the abstract below.

JournalEpigenomics, 2023
Citations5
Relative citation ratio0.63
NIH percentile35
Molecules dulaglutide

Abstract

Dulaglutide emerged as a promising therapeutic option for diabetes mellitus Type 2 (DM2). Owing to epigenetic similarities between the pathophysiology of DM2 and breast cancer (BC), we investigated the antitumor effect of dulaglutide. To investigate the effect of dulaglutide, we analyzed the expression of methylated gene promoter regions in BC (, and ). Dulaglutide increased the expression of , and up to fourfold in the MDA-MB-231 lineage by demethylating the gene promoter regions. This effect was translated to antitumoral activity and revealed significant tumor inhibition by combining the half-dose of methotrexate with dulaglutide. This therapy may mitigate the severe side effects commonly associated with chemotherapy.

Verbatim abstract via PubMed 38174426 ↗

Related research