The Insulin peptide family
Pierre De Meyts
MD, PHD, F.A.C.E.
The Insulin peptide family
Insulin is only one member of a family of peptide hormones and growth factors that comprizes 10 members in humans: insulin, insulin-like growth factors I and II (IGF-I and II) and seven peptides related to relaxin (Fig. 1).
They result from successive duplications of an ancestral gene that appeared early in animal evolution. Invertebrates also have many insulin-like peptides, e.g. 37 in the worm C. elegans and seven in the fruit fly Drosophila Melanogaster (1).
They play an important role in metabolism, growth, reproduction and longevity.
Complete the following form to download the full article and subscribe to our newsletter.