ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) plays an important role in cellgrowth, proliferation and differentiation. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), as the main binding protein of IGF1, is involved in the regulation of IGF1. OBJECTIVE:To attempt to analyze the relation of IGFBP-3 and various diseases, and to explore the potential values of IGFBP-3 in disease diagnosis and risk assessment. METHODDatabases of PubMed, Science Direct and Wanfang database were retrieved with key words of“insulin-like growth factors 1;IGFBP-3;cancer;growth hormone deficiency;diabetes;osteoporosis”in English and Chinese, respectively, by screening titles and abstracts to search papers related to IGFBP-3 structure and function as wel as relationship of IGFBP-3 with cancer, growth hormone deficiency, diabetes, osteoporosis. Final y, 43 articles were summarized according to inclusion criteria. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:In recent years, the relationship between gene of IGFBP-3 and risk of cancer is becoming a hot research topic. The results show that IGFBP-3 is a protective agent of cancer risk, and it is an important factor in evaluating the risk of cancer, exhibiting a potential application value. IGFBP-3 is also associated with growth hormone deficiency and diabetes. In addition, IGFBP-3 can assist IGF-1 to play the regulatory role in bone growth and differentiation, which is closely linked with osteoporosis. Therefore, IGFBP-3 can be a potential predictor for osteoporosis.