title: The insulin-like growth factor-I receptor as a target for cancer therapy.
abstract: This review examines the rationale for targeting the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I receptor in the therapy of human tumours and their metastases. The rationale is based on two crucial findings: 1) in experimental animals, normal cells are only partially affected by the deletion of the IGF-I receptor, whereas tumour cells undergo apoptosis when the IGF-I receptor is downregulated; and 2) cells with a deleted IGF-I receptor are refractory to transformation by viral and cellular oncogenes. This review focuses on the mechanisms underlying the experimental findings, and discusses the possibility of extrapolating the results obtained in animals to the cure of human tumours.
authors.affiliation: Thomas Jefferson University, Kimmel Cancer Center, 233 S. 10th Street, 624 BLSB, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. r_baserga@mail.jci.tju.edu
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baserga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D017526:Receptor, IGF Type 1 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D017526:Receptor, IGF Type 1