Bassett Research Scientist To Present At International Symposium On Link Between Insulin and Cancer

Cooperstown, NY – Michael Greene, Ph.D, a research scientist in the Bassett Research Institute at Bassett Medical Center, has been invited to present at an international conference in Naples, Italy on his study of the molecular link between obesity/diabetes and cancer. Dr. Greene will give a talk on his research at the International Symposium on Insulin Receptors and Insulin Action in Naples October 28-30. It’s the first time in the conference’s 11-year history an entire day is being devoted to the link between insulin and cancer.

“We know tumor growth accelerates rapidly when exposed to light at night, but until now we didn't know what allowed that to happen. Our research indicates that the activation of the insulin-signaling pathway, which is also critical to the regulation of glucose levels and avoidance of diabetes, is regulating the growth of cancer tumors,” explains Greene. “More work remains to better understand this mechanism for tumor growth, but once we do we will be better able to target those details with therapeutics and more successfully fight cancer.” Greene points out that the link between obesity/diabetes and cancer has only been observed for certain cancers, such as breast, prostate, kidney, colon, and endometrial cancer.

The relationship between insulin and cancer is just one in a myriad of topics that will be covered at the October symposium in Naples. Organizers of this year’s symposium at the University of Naples say the understanding of the origination and development of diabetes and related disorders is being transformed by a number of discoveries. As a result, the perception of diabetes and related disorders is changing both at the mechanistic and the clinical levels. The conference will examine the “new face of diabetes in the 21st century”.