Endocrine Abstracts

The involvement of the insulin-like growth factors (IGF1, IGF2) in cancer biology has been the focus of extensive research. Ligand-dependent activation of the IGF1 receptor (IGF1-R) has been identified as a crucial step in cancer development. Epidemiological studies revealed that moderately elevated serum IGF1 is associated with increased occurrence of various tumours, including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer. The IGF1-R is expressed in most transformed cells, where i...

During recent years, insulin and insulin-like growth factors have been implicated in the control of lifespan in a variety of species. In mammals, substantial reduction of somatotropic signals generally extends lifespan. We showed recently in a conditional mouse mutant relevant for humans, that lifespan can be prolonged by inhibiting IGF-I signaling selectively in the central nervous system. This effect occurred through changes in specific neuroendocrine pathways. Investigating...

Epidemiological observations increasingly imply nutritional energy balance as a key risk factor for cancer development. Excess body weight is associated with increased risks of cancers of the endometrium, breast (postmenopausal women), kidney (renal cell tumours), colon, pancreas and oesophagus (adenocarcinomas). By contrast, regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing breast and colorectal cancers, and potentially other tumour types. Overall, excess weight and la...

Neuroprotection defines a set of homeostatic, self-repair mechanisms that probably evolved for the specially demanding conditions imposed by brain function. Among these, intercellular messengers such as the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), that appeared very early during phylogeny, apparently play a prominent role despite their peripheral origin. In contrast to the heterogeneity seen in primitive organisms where at least 30 different IGF-like peptides are described, in mamm...