DoGLP-1–Based Therapies Increase Cancer Risk?

Cases of pancreatitis have been de-scribed in connection with the useof exenatide (1), liraglutide (2) and other glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 re-ceptor agonists. From these findings, the following hypothesis has been generated: stimulating the GLP-1 receptor with re-spective agonists has a potential to cause pancreatitis, perhaps chronic pancreati-tis, and in the long term, potentially even pancreatic cancer (3–5). Further-more, in rodents like mice and rats, stim-ulating the GLP-1 receptor raises cAMP in thyroid C cells, initiates the release of cal-citonin, and upon longer-term exposure, is accompanied by C-cell proliferation and the formation of C-cell adenoma