Key result
Insulin acts as a growth factor for myeloma and lymphoblastoid cells in serum-containing medium, but induces apoptosis and decreases cell viability in serum-free conditions.
Why the study?
Epidemiological studies revealed insulin therapy increases mortality in multiple myeloma patients with type 2 diabetes, but experimental evidence of this association was limited.
p-value: p=<0.05
Insulin acts as a growth factor for myeloma cells in the presence of serum but induces apoptosis under serum starvation, providing a potential mechanism for the poor prognosis of multiple myeloma patients with hyperinsulinemia.
Cell-line findings on insulin's context-dependent effects in myeloma warrant no practice change; leaves open in vivo validation needs.
Many reports have documented the role of INS (insulin) as growth factors in a variety of cancers. Epidemiological studies revealed that INS therapy causes increased mortality in multiple myeloma (MM) patients with pre-existing or steroid-induced type 2 diabetes. However, there is limited experimental evidence of this association. In the present study, the dual effect of INS on the viability of myeloma RPMI8226 and lymphoblastoid IM9 cells was revealed. In serum-containing medium exogenous INS serves as a growth factor, whereas INS decreases the number of cells under serum-free medium. In the last case, the main mechanism of decreasing the cell population is apoptosis through up-regulation of Cas-3 and downregulation of Bcl-2 expression. INS has also been shown to be involved in the regulation of necrotic cell death.
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A 2021 study studied Multiple myeloma. Insulin vs. Untreated cells (no insulin) was evaluated on Cell viability and apoptosis (p=<0.05). Insulin acts as a growth factor for myeloma and lymphoblastoid cells in serum-containing medium, but induces apoptosis and decreases cell viability in serum-free conditions.
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