Regulation and function of insulin and insulin-like growth factor receptor signalling

Abstract

Receptors of insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are receptor tyrosine kinases whose signalling controls multiple aspects of animal physiology throughout life. In addition to regulating metabolism and growth, insulin-IGF receptor signalling has recently been linked to a variety of new, cell type-specific functions. In the last century, key questions have focused on how structural differences of insulin and IGFs affect receptor activation, and how insulin-IGF receptor signalling translates into pleiotropic biological functions. Technological advances such as cryo-electron microscopy have provided a detailed understanding of how native and engineered ligands activate insulin-IGF receptors. In this Review, we highlight recent structural and functional insights into the activation of insulin-IGF receptors, and summarize new agonists and antagonists developed for intervening in the activation of insulin-IGF receptor signalling. Furthermore, we discuss recently identified regulatory mechanisms beyond ligand-receptor interactions and functions of insulin-IGF receptor signalling in diseases.