Modern Concepts of Insulin-Like Growth Factors

To address the explosion of new and exciting information on the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), the Second International Symposium on Insulin-Like Growth Factors/Somatomedins was convened from January 12-16, 1991, in San Francisco, California. This book covers many diverse research areas, fostering communication among specialists from such areas as growth and development, cell physiology, reproductive physiology, nephrology, surgery, molecular genetics, oncology and ophthalmology. More than 45 renowned experts present comprehensive discussions of the major areas of IGF research, reviewing the significant background information, presenting the latest in IGF research, and also recommending nomenclature of IGF genes, transcripts, and binding proteins drawn up by special panels.
These recurrent themes are expressed throughout: # The remarkable ability of IGFs to adapt, to acquire new functions in different organ systems, and to facilitate actions of other tropic hormones # Autocrine and Paracrine modes of action # The critical role of the IGF binding proteins in regulating IGF actions and delivery to and from tissue # The unique heterogeneity of IGF mRNAs that potentially offers multiple mechanisms for differential regulation of IGF gene expression.