Involvement of the IGF system in fetal growth and childhood cancer: an overview of potential mechanisms
- 17 June 2009
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Cancer Causes & Control
- Vol. 20 (10), 1783-1798
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-009-9378-z
Abstract
Fetal growth is determined by a complex interplay of genetic, nutritional, environmental, and hormonal factors. Greater than expected fetal growth has been positively associated with the risk of the development of some cancers in childhood, particularly acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and the biological mechanisms underlying such associations are thought to involve insulin-like growth factors (IGFs). Circulating IGF levels are highly correlated with fetal growth, and IGFs are believed to play an important role in carcinogenesis; however, these two bodies of evidence have not been well integrated and, as a result, the potential underlying biological mechanisms linking the IGF system with the development of specific childhood cancers have not been elucidated. This review aims to draw together and summarize the literature linking the IGF system, rapidity of fetal growth, and risk of some specific childhood cancers; suggest explanations for some of the inconsistencies observed in previous studies of these associations; and propose an integrated framework for the putative involvement of the IGF system in the development of at least some childhood cancers. If the challenges involved in studying the complex IGF system can be overcome, this field presents an exciting opportunity to elucidate etiological pathways to childhood malignancies.Keywords
This publication has 97 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fetal growth and the risk of childhood non-CNS solid tumours in Western AustraliaBritish Journal of Cancer, 2008
- Maternal Insulin-like Growth Factor-II Promotes Placental Functional Development Via the Type 2 IGF Receptor in the Guinea PigPlacenta, 2008
- Perinatal risk factors for hepatoblastomaBritish Journal of Cancer, 2008
- Enhanced sensitivity to IGF-II signaling links loss of imprinting ofIGF2to increased cell proliferation and tumor riskProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- Insulin-like growth factors and neoplasiaNature Reviews Cancer, 2004
- Gene Expression Patterns in Ependymomas Correlate with Tumor Location, Grade, and Patient AgeThe American Journal of Pathology, 2003
- Epigenetic Heterogeneity at Imprinted Loci in Normal PopulationsBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2001
- Role of the Insulin-Like Growth Factor Family in Cancer Development and ProgressionJNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2000
- Occasional loss of constitutive heterozygosity at 11p15.5 and imprinting relaxation of theIGFII maternal allele in hepatoblastomaZeitschrift für Krebsforschung und Klinische Onkologie, 1994
- Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, -II and IGF binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) in the plasma of children with Wilms' tumourEuropean Journal Of Cancer, 1993