Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 May 15;124(10):2416-29.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.24202.

Circulating insulin-like growth factor peptides and prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mari-Anne Rowlands  1 , David Gunnell, Ross Harris, Lars J Vatten, Jeff M P Holly, Richard M Martin
Affiliations
Review

Circulating insulin-like growth factor peptides and prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mari-Anne Rowlands et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

Insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I, IGF-II) and their binding proteins (IGFBP-1-6) play a key role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, suggesting possible involvement in carcinogenesis. Several epidemiological studies show associations of IGFs with prostate cancer. We searched the published literature for all studies relating levels of IGFs or IGFBPs with prostate cancer. We performed random effects meta-analysis to calculate summary odds ratios. The number of studies (prostate cancer cases) included in each meta-analysis were 42 (7,481) IGF-I; 10 (923) IGF-II; 3 (485) IGFBP-1; 5 (577) IGFBP-2; 29 (6,541) IGFBP-3 and 11 (3,545) IGF-1:IGFBP-3 ratio. The pooled odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) per standard deviation increase in peptide were: IGF-I, OR = 1.21 (1.07, 1.36); IGF-II, OR = 1.17 (0.93, 1.47); IGFBP-1, OR = 1.21 (0.62, 2.33); IGFBP-2, OR = 1.18 (0.90, 1.54); IGFBP-3, OR = 0.88 (0.79, 0.98); IGFI:IGFBP-3 ratio, OR = 1.10 (0.97, 1.24). For all exposures, there was substantial heterogeneity (all I(2) > 75%), partly explained by study design: the magnitude of associations was smaller in prospective vs. retrospective studies, and for IGFBP-3, the inverse association with prostate cancer risk was seen in retrospective but not prospective studies. There was weak evidence that associations of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 with prostate cancer were stronger for advanced disease. Our meta-analysis confirms that raised circulating lGF-I is positively associated with prostate cancer risk. Associations between IGFBP-3 and prostate cancer were inconsistent, and there was little evidence for a role of IGF-II, IGFBP-1 or IGFBP-2 in prostate cancer risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram showing the number of studies included in and excluded from the meta-analysis
Figure 2
Figure 2
Funnel plots of standard errors (SE) of the log odds ratio (OR) of prostate cancer (Y axis) versus the log OR of prostate cancer (X axis) for IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3. The vertical line is drawn at the pooled log OR. Diagonal lines indicate the pseudo 95% confidence interval.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of the association of IGF-I with prostate cancer showing the effect of a one standard deviation increase in IGF-I. Squares indicate the study-specific effect estimate, with the size proportional to the inverse of the variance, with horizontal lines showing 95% confidence intervals. The dashed vertical line and diamonds (95% confidence interval) are the pooled estimates based on random or fixed effects meta-analysis models.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot of the association of IGF-II with prostate cancer showing the effect of a one standard deviation increase in IGF-II. Squares indicate the study-specific effect estimate, with the size proportional to the inverse of the variance, with horizontal lines showing 95% confidence intervals. The dashed vertical line and diamonds (95% confidence interval) are the pooled estimates based on random or fixed effects meta-analysis models.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot of the association of IGFBP-3 with prostate cancer showing the effect of a one standard deviation increase in IGFBP-3. Squares indicate the study-specific effect estimate, with the size proportional to the inverse of the variance, with horizontal lines showing 95% confidence intervals. The dashed vertical line and diamonds (95% confidence interval) are the pooled estimates based on random or fixed effects meta-analysis models.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gennigens C, Menetrier-Caux C, Droz JP. Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF) family and prostate cancer. Critical Reviews in Oncology-Hematology. 2006;58(2):124–145. - PubMed
    1. Roddam AW, Allen NE, Appleby P, Key TJ, Ferrucci L, Carter HB, Metter EJ, Chen C, Weiss NS, Fitzpatrick A, Hsing AW, Lacey JV, Jr., Helzlsouer K, Rinaldi S, Riboli E, Kaaks R, Janssen JAMJ, Wildhagen MF, Schroder FH, Platz EA, Pollak M, Giovannucci E, Schaefer C, Quesenberry CP, Jr., Vogelman JH, Severi G, English DR, Giles GG, Stattin P, Hallmans G, Johansson M, Chan JM, Gann P, Oliver SE, Holly JM, Donovan J, Meyer F, Bairati I, Galan P. Insulin-like Growth Factors, Their Binding Proteins, and Prostate Cancer Risk: Analysis of Individual Patient Data from 12 Prospective Studies. Ann Intern Med. 2008;149(7):461–471. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Morris JK, George LM, Wu T, Wald NJ. Insulin-like growth factors and cancer: no role in screening. Evidence from the BUPA study and meta-analysis of prospective epidemiological studies. Br J Cancer. 2006;95(1):112–117. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Renehan AG, Zwahlen M, Minder C, O'Dwyer ST, Shalet SM, Egger M. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF binding protein-3, and cancer risk: systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Lancet. 2004;363(9418):1346–1353. - PubMed
    1. Shi R, Berkel HJ, Yu H. Insulin-like growth factor-I and prostate cancer: a meta-analysis. Br J Cancer. 2001;85(7):991–996. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms