Incretin based therapy and pancreatic cancer: Realising the reality

Incretin-based therapies like glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors help maintain the glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with additional systemic benefits and little risk of hypoglycaemia. These medications are associated with low-grade chronic pancreatitis in animal models inconsistently. The incidence of acute pancreatitis was also reported in some human studies. This inflammation provides fertile ground for developing pancreatic carcinoma (PC). Although the data from clinical trials and population-based studies have established safety regarding PC, the pathophysiological possibility that low-grade chronic pancreatitis leads to PC remains. We review the existing literature and describe the relationship between incretin-based therapies and PC.