IGF1
IGF1
Overview
IGF1 encodes insulin-like growth factor 1, a peptide growth factor with central roles in postnatal growth, tissue repair, metabolism, and endocrine signaling. It is a key mediator of growth hormone action and is widely used as a circulating biomarker of growth axis activity. In physiology, IGF-1 supports skeletal growth, muscle maintenance, and anabolic processes, while also participating in broader pathways linked to insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and aging.
Clinically, IGF-1 is relevant across multiple disease areas, including short stature, acromegaly, haemophilic arthropathy, osteoarthritis, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, and age-related musculoskeletal decline. Because IGF-1 reflects both endocrine status and local tissue biology, it is frequently studied as a biomarker, a mechanistic mediator, and a target within pathway-based analyses involving growth hormone, IGFBP-3, STAT3, PI3K, VEGFA, leptin, and related signaling networks.
Focus of Latest Publications
Recent publications have examined IGF1 across a range of disease contexts, most prominently as a signaling node in cancer and as a biomarker of growth, tissue injury, and metabolic status. In gastric cancer, quercetin was investigated as a potential modulator of IGF1 signaling using network pharmacology, molecular docking, 200 ns molecular dynamics simulations, and validation in AGS cells. IGF1 emerged as a key hub gene, and quercetin showed favorable predicted binding to IGF1, stable complex behavior in simulations, significant downregulation of IGF1 mRNA, and dose-dependent inhibition of IGF1 activity, supporting a possible role in interrupting IGF1-mediated tumor growth and survival pathways.
In breast cancer, IGF1 was studied alongside IGFBP-3 and hormone receptor status in Palestinian women with newly diagnosed disease. Higher serum IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels were observed in ER(+)/PR(+) patients, and IGF-1 correlated positively with hormone receptor status and with more advanced stages. The same study also found that the IGFBP-3 A-202C genotype was significantly associated with PR and combined ER/PR positivity, suggesting that IGF1-related measures may have value as candidate biomarkers for breast cancer risk and progression. Another breast cancer study reported that palbociclib-induced fibroblast senescence increased IGF1 and FGF7 levels, contributing to an immunosuppressive microenvironment through macrophage polarization and reduced lymphocyte viability.
Several studies focused on IGF1 as a marker of growth and tissue health. In children with short stature, height showed a strong positive correlation with IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels, alongside associations with iron, hemoglobin, zinc, sex hormones, and glucose. In a birth cohort from Indonesia, IGF-1 was identified as a significant determinant of length-for-age z-score at 12 months, and pathway analysis suggested that environmental enteric dysfunction influences linear growth indirectly through systemic inflammation and altered growth signaling, with IGF-1 negatively associated with CD14. In haemophilic arthropathy, IGF-1 negatively correlated with clinical and ultrasound joint scores in severe haemophilia, indicating a potential relationship with joint damage severity.
Other recent publications placed IGF1 in broader physiological and translational contexts. A study of surgically treated acromegaly highlighted postoperative biochemical discordance between growth hormone and IGF-1 as a clinical management challenge. In skeletal muscle aging, IGF1 was identified among key genes shared by calorie restriction and endurance exercise, within pathways related to longevity, AMPK, and FoxO signaling. IGF1 also appeared in a bibliometric analysis of growth factors in osteoarthritis and in a study of Yinxingye tablets, where it was listed among hub targets implicated in antioxidant stress effects.