Suppressing growth hormone and a related blood-borne compound in early adulthood could lower the likelihood of several kinds of cancer in people at high risk for the disease, researchers report.Based on a study with rats, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center say a lifelong deficiency of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) decreased cancer risk by about 45 percent and decreased cancer deaths by 12 percent to 15 percent."Besides reducing the incidence of cancer in these rats, we found that a modest suppression of plasma IGF-1, beginning shortly after puberty and continued throughout life, reduces the incidence of kidney disease and increases lifespan,” lead investigator William E. Sonntag, a professor of physiology and pharmacology, said in a prepared statement.The findings were presented Sunday at the Endocrine Society annual meeting in San Diego.
