title: The IGF/IGF-1 receptor signaling pathway as a potential target for cancer therapy.
abstract: Expression of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their cognate receptor, the IGF-1 receptor, is frequently upregulated during the development of many types of cancer. Besides stimulating cell cycle progression and the transformation status of tumor cells, a wealth of recent experimental data suggests that IGF-mediated signaling exerts a central tumor-promoting function through the repression of tumor cell apoptosis. These functions are all conveyed by the IGF-1 receptor, thus making it an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Notably, inhibition of IGF-mediated survival function appears to synergize with conventional chemotherapeutic ablation of tumor cells, raising the possibility of combinatorial cancer therapies with significantly reduced side-effects. Copyright 1999 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Burtscher
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Christofori