Table 1.

Main molecular alterations involving the IGF system components in thyroid, adrenal, and ovarian cancer.

Molecular alteration	Thyroid cancer	Adrenal cancer	Ovarian cancer
IGF-IR overexpression	+	+	+
IR overexpression	+ (IR-A)	?	+ (IR-A)
HRs overexpression	+	?	?
IGFs overexpression	+ (IGF-I and IGF-II)	+ (IGF-II > IGF-I)	+ (IGF-II > IGF-I)
IGFs autocrine production	+ (IGF-I and IGF-II)	+ (IGF-II > IGF-I)	+ (IGF-I and IGF-II)
IGF-II/IR-A loop activation	+	?	+
IGFBPs overexpression	+	+ (IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, IGFBP-6)	+ (IGFBP-2 > IGFBP-3 > IGFBP-4)
Relationship with elevated levels of insulin	+	+	+