A Penn Medicine study found that a class of popular weight-loss drugs could be associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer.
Earlier this month, a team of researchers — led by radiology professor Elizabeth McDonald — announced findings showing that women who took GLP-1 medications were roughly 30% less likely to develop breast cancer compared to those who did not take the drugs. McDonald wrote in a press release that the results may have implications for research into whether the medication offers benefits beyond weight loss and diabetes management.
“While our study was observational and does not definitively confirm an association between GLP-1 medications and reduced breast cancer incidence, it does add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that it’s worth investigating these weight-loss drugs as potential cancer prevention tools,” McDonald wrote in the release.
GLP-1 medications are a class of drugs that help “regulate blood sugar and appetite” and are used to treat diabetes, according to the release. In recent years, the medications have become increasingly popular for weight management — though researchers are continuing to study their broader health effects.
For the study, researchers analyzed health records from over 110,000 women between the ages of 45 and 80 with a body mass index of 25 or higher who had a documented breast imaging outcome. Among those women, approximately 15,000 had documented prescriptions for GLP-1 medications.
The researchers compared breast cancer diagnoses among women who took GLP-1 medications and those who did not, concluding that GLP-1 treatment was “associated with a lower incidence of breast cancer, independent of age, race, ethnicity, BMI, breast density, and diabetes.”
McDonald — who is also a breast radiologist at Penn Med’s Abramson Cancer Center — added that GLP-1 medications are “intriguing from a cancer research perspective” due to their effects on “targets and pathways associated with cancer development” despite not being “designed for cancer therapy.”
The Penn Med researchers believe the findings may be connected to several effects of GLP-1 medications. GLP-1 medications are “highly effective” for weight loss, and obesity has been recognized as a risk factor for breast cancer. The drugs also reduce inflammation and may inhibit tumor growth.
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The findings have laid the groundwork for a planned “multi-site clinical trial” that would examine whether GLP-1 medications can reduce breast cancer incidence among women at elevated risk for the disease.
“Ultimately, we want to find better options to prevent breast cancer,” McDonald wrote. “It’s been encouraging to see the survival rates for breast cancer improve over recent decades, and we’d love to see the same gains in prevention.”
