Contribution To Ageing
It is now widely accepted that signaling through the insulin/IGF-1-like receptor pathway is a significant contributor to the biological aging process in many organisms. This avenue of research first achieved prominence with the work of Cynthia Kenyon, who showed that mutations in the daf-2 gene could double the lifespan of the roundworm C. elegans. daf-2 encodes the worm's unified insulin/IGF-1-like receptor.
Insulin/IGF-1-like signaling is conserved from worms to humans. In vitro experiments show that mutations that reduce insulin/IGF-1 signaling have been shown to decelerate the degenerative aging process and extend lifespan in a wide range of organisms, including Drosophila melanogaster, mice, and possibly humans. Reduced IGF-1 signaling is also thought to contribute to the "anti-aging" effects of Calorie restriction.
Nevertheless the situation in vivo is evidently different, Anabolic deficiency in men with chronic heart failure is prevalent and could have an associated detrimental impact on survival. Deficiency of anabolic hormones identifies groups with a higher mortality.
Read more about this topic: Insulin-like Growth Factor 1
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—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
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