[tanysquirrel]

Insulin-like growth factor 1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin-li...h_factor_1
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), also called somatomedin C, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IGF1 gene. IGF-1 has also been referred to as a "sulfation factor" and its effects were termed "nonsuppressible insulin-like activity" (NSILA) in the 1970s.

IGF-1 is a hormone similar in molecular structure to insulin. It plays an important role in childhood growth and continues to have anabolic effects in adults. A synthetic analog of IGF-1, mecasermin, is used for the treatment of growth failure.

Protein intake increases IGF-1 levels in humans, independent of total calorie consumption.

IGF-1 is a primary mediator of the effects of growth hormone (GH). Growth hormone is made in the anterior pituitary gland, is released into the blood stream, and then stimulates the liver to produce IGF-1. IGF-1 then stimulates systemic body growth, and has growth-promoting effects on almost every cell in the body, especially skeletal muscle, cartilage, bone, liver, kidney, nerves, skin, hematopoietic cell, and lungs. In addition to the insulin-like effects, IGF-1 can also regulate cell growth and development, especially in nerve cells, as well as cellular DNA synthesis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammary_gland#Structure
Estrogen and growth hormone (GH) are essential for the ductal component of mammary gland development, and act synergistically to mediate it.[12][13][14][15][16] Neither estrogen nor GH are capable of inducing ductal development without the other. The role of GH in ductal development has been found to be mostly mediated by its induction of the secretion of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which occurs both systemically (mainly originating from the liver) andlocally in the mammary fat pad through activation of the growth hormone receptor (GHR). However, GH itself also acts independently of IGF-1 to stimulate ductal development by upregulating estrogen receptor (ER) expression in mammary gland tissue, which is a downstream effect of mammary gland GHR activation.[16] In any case, unlike IGF-1, GH itself is not essential for mammary gland development, and IGF-1 in conjunction with estrogen can induce normal mammary gland development without the presence of GH.[16] In addition to IGF-1, other paracrine growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β),[18] amphiregulin,[19] fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)[20] are involved in breast development as mediators downstream to sex hormones and GH/IGF-1



soooo...as I see it.. since GH is not necessarily needed according to this info, the idea is to increase the IGF-1 in the breast fat pad area..how do we do that? more research to come.