Molecular medicine review reveals the role of IGF in cancer, other proliferative diseases

Studies suggest that Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF) plays a central role in pathological growth of proliferative conditions like cancer, and may function as a resistance mechanism adopted by the majority of solid cancers following therapeutic targeting of non-IGF signaling pathways.

Last week, the journal Cell Cycle published the review article titled "Cell Cycle Control by the Insulin-like Growth Factor Signal: At the Crossroad between Cell Growth and Mitotic Regulation." The work comes from the longstanding expertise and collaboration of the co-authors affiliated with the ISOPROG-Somatolink Research Network and the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, part of the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO), at Temple University in Philadelphia, along with the Arthur Riggs Diabetes Institute and Beckmann Research Institute at City of Hope in Duarte, California.

According to the authors, "The article has been specifically designed both for newcomers in the IGF biology field as well as to established researchers focusing on pathway-driven molecular targeting.

"Overall, the review aims to clarify and functionally connect established experimental findings and re-directs readers on extensively validated research on this complex molecular system and its growth/mitotic cellular network.

"Analysis suggests that IGF signal co-targeting strategies and solutions still represent an unmet objective in current pathway-driven cancer therapeutics. Consequently, a better understanding of the IGF growth/mitotic-regulatory signal remains a key goal towards more effective cancer therapies."