Type I insulin-like growth factor receptor signaling in hematological malignancies

// Deeksha Vishwamitra 1 , Suraj Konnath George 1 , Ping Shi 2 , Ahmed O. Kaseb 3 and Hesham M. Amin 1,4 1 Department of Hematopathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA 2 State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China 3 Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA 4 The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA Correspondence to: Hesham M. Amin, email: // Keywords : IGF-IR; plasma cell myeloma; leukemia; lymphoma Received : January 21, 2016 Accepted : September 12, 2016 Published : September 19, 2016 Abstract The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling system plays key roles in the establishment and progression of different types of cancer. In agreement with this idea, substantial evidence has shown that the type I IGF receptor (IGF-IR) and its primary ligand IGF-I are important for maintaining the survival of malignant cells of hematopoietic origin. In this review, we discuss current understanding of the role of IGF-IR signaling in cancer with a focus on the hematological neoplasms. We also address the emergence of IGF-IR as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of different types of cancer including plasma cell myeloma, leukemia, and lymphoma.