The Role of Type I Insulin Like Growth Factor Receptor (IGF-IR) in Adult and Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Background: Type 1 insulin like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) is over expressed in many tumors including hematological cancers. It is a critical signaling molecule for tumor cell proliferation and survival. Data suggest that IGF-IR antibodies can effectively and specifically inhibit cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Blockage of IGF-IR expression could be a promising therapeutic approach for the management of cancer patients. Aim of Work: To characterize the expression pattern of IGF-IR gene in malignant lymphoblasts of children and adults suffering from ALL in relation to clinical features at diagnosis. Patients and Methods: The expression of IGF-IR was analyzed in 60 patients with ALL, 30 childhood ALL (16 newly diagnosed and 14 in complete remission) and 30 adulthood ALL (15 newly diagnosed and 15 in complete remission) together with 20 normal age and sex matched healthy controls using a Real-Time Quantitative ReverseTranscriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTQ-PCR) to assess the possible relation, association or correlation between IGF-IR expression and ALL clinical and laboratory features at diagnosis. Results: IGF-IR was expressed in all 60 patients with ALL; the expression levels of IGF-IR were significantly higher in newly diagnosed patients than in patients in complete remission (CR) and controls (p<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in the expression of IGF-IR between patients with different clinical and laboratory features. Conclusion: IGF-1R seems to play a crucial role in patients with ALL since it is expressed in all ALL cases (adulthood and childhood). Therefore, new therapeutic