New research offers evidence that a particular molecule may provide a target for the development of drugs to treat a wide variety of tumors, including some that are resistant to conventional therapies.The research, published online in Cancer Cell, found that the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) is necessary for the survival of tumor cells and that using selective small molecules to inhibit IGF-1R may be a potential anticancer treatment.Many previous studies have suggested that IGF-1R is a factor in cancer development in humans. IGF-1R is present in a broad range of tumor types. But it hasn’t been regarded as a likely target for cancer drugs because many normal cells also contain IGF-1R.
