A new class of diabetes drugs may help doctors combat prostate and pancreatic cancers.

Scientists at the University of California-Los Angeles have found the drugs — known as sodium-dependent glucose transporters (SGLTs) — could be used to block the delivery of a key substance that fuels the growth of pancreatic and prostate cancer cells, Medical Xpress reports.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, offer new hope in the fight against two of the deadliest forms of the disease, said the researchers. They noted the meds are now available because they have already been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration.

"This is exciting because it provides strong evidence that [SGLT] inhibitors, such as those currently approved by the FDA to treat diabetes, could potentially block glucose uptake and reduce tumor growth and increase survival in pancreatic and prostate cancers," said lead researcher Ernest Wright, professor of physiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Cancer cells require high amounts of the sugar glucose to grow, and the new study showed the diabetes drugs — including Forxiga (dapagliflozin), Invokana (canagliflozin), and Jardiance (empagliflozin) — could be used to better diagnose and treat pancreatic and prostate cancers.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States behind only lung, colon, and breast cancers. Prostate cancer, though generally more treatable and with improved survival rates, is still the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men.

The UCLA researchers hope the study will lead to the use of SGLT inhibitors to reduce the viability of pancreatic and prostate cancer cells and increase patient survival.