A Star of Connection Between Pancreatic Cancer and Diabetes: Adrenomedullin

Pancreatic cancer belongs to the most aggressive cancer types, with an incidence rate equallig mortality rate. It is well‐known that type 2 diabetes is a significant risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Interestingly, several studies have shown that pancreatic cancer can also lead to type 2 diabetes, as part of the pancreatic cancer induced paraneoplastic syndrome. Multiple factors have been proposed to be involved in the interaction between pancreatic cancer and diabetes. Adrenomedullin, a multifunctional hormone, is nominated as a strong candidate influencing the connection of pancreatic cancer with diabetes. Evidence so far suggest that adrenomedullin upregulation is linked with pancreatic cancer growth, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Most importantly, adrenomedullin exerts paracrine effects on pancreatic β cells impairing insulin secretion, causing glucose intolerance, and thus leading to β cell dysfunction. This review will explain recent ad‐ vances regarding the involvement of adrenomedullin in pancreatic cancer and pancreatic cancer‐associated diabetes. Received February 05th, 2015‐Accepted May 25th, 2015