The IGF-I system

The Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGF-I) system has many important normal cellular functions, such as growth, survival, differentiation, and proliferation. The IGF-I system has also been blamed for providing a survival advantage to many types of cancer cells. In fact, a large portion of my dissertation research deals with understanding some of the benefits the IGF-I system provides to colon cancer cells.

Surprisingly, my goal from this blog entry was not to bore everyone...

I was reading my electronic version of The New York Times today, and on page 14 there was an article that talked about the IGF-I system. The article, however, was talking about a new discovery that scientists have recently revealed... an inhibitor of the IGF-I system is responsible for the huge variation in dog sizes. These scientists have shown that small dogs express the inhibitor, while big dogs do not... which makes sense since the IGF-I system is involved in growth.

Isn't that fascinating? One gene accounts for the difference between a tiny poodle and a great dane, which happens to be the same gene that can play an important role in some human cancers.

Note: now, you can receive The New York Times Electronic Edition. You will receive it for free for 7 days, after which it is $9.99/month.