BOSTON -- A widely used diabetes drug dramatically boosted the potency of platinum-based cancer drugs when administered together to a variety of cancer cell lines and to mice with tumors, scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report.

Combining a platinum chemotherapyterm agent and the diabetes drug rosiglitazone halted or shrank mouse tumors as much as three times more effectively than either of the drugs given alone, according to the article in the May issue of Cancer Cell.

If pairing the drugs has the same synergistic effect in humans, the researchers say, it could improve control of ovarian, lung and other cancers routinely treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, to which tumors eventually become resistant. Moreover, the experiments suggest the combination might extend the use of platinum drugs to other cancers where they haven't previously been shown to be effective.