Insulin-like growth factor-1 enhances mortality risk in women with breast cancer through epithelial-mesenchymal transition initiation

The metastatic disease which leads to cancer patients′ mortality results from a multi-step process of tumor progression caused by gene alteration and cooperation. Accordingly, it was recently demonstrated that alteration level of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) are associated with the risk of cancer related death in several human malignancies including breast cancer. On the other hand, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is described as a crucial event in cancer progression and metastasis. Herein, we discuss the association between IGF-1, IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio, EMT, and breast cancer mortality.