Insulin-like growth factors and cancer: From basic biology to therapeutics

The book will detail the history, successes, and failures of targeted therapies for cancer, with a particular focus on IGF systems and cancer. The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has long been known from cell culture systems to be involved in cancer cell biology. Most varieties of cancer cells express components of the IGF system; ligands, receptors, or IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). Furthermore, proliferation and cell survival are affected by manipulations of this system. Only recently has this important relationship become clinically relevant; both from a diagnostic and a therapeutic point of view. In this compilation of chapters by world-authorities on the topic, we have aimed at presenting this concept from the epidemiological, basic biology, and therapeutic aspects.