People with Type 2 obesity-driven diabetes tend to have more aggressive breast cancers. A new study showed that blood factors drive breast cancer aggression.

Researchers at Boston University, US, showed that tiny particles in the blood -- known as exosomes -- get altered by diabetes. These exosomes can reprogramme immune cells inside tumours, making them weaker and allowing the cancer to grow and spread more easily.

“Breast cancer is already challenging to treat, and people with type 2 diabetes have worse outcomes, but clinicians don’t fully understand why,” said corresponding author Gerald Denis, Professor at BU.