Obesity and endocrine-related cancer: The important role of IGF-1

Abstract

Obesity is increasingly becoming a global epidemic of concern and is considered a risk factor for several endocrine-related cancers. Moreover, obesity is associated with cancer development and poor prognosis. As a metabolic abnormality, obesity leads to a series of changes in insulin, IGF-1, sex hormones, IGFBPs, and adipokines. Among these factors, IGF-1 plays an important role in obesity-related endocrine cancers. This review describes the role of obesity in endocrine-related cancers, such as prostate cancer, breast cancer and pancreatic cancer, focusing on the mechanism of IGF-1 and the crosstalk with estrogen and adipokines. In addition, this review briefly introduces the current status of IGF-1R inhibitors in clinical practice and shows the prospect of IGF-1R inhibitors in combination with other anticancer drugs.