INS and cancer: The role of INSR in cancer is less well studied but a role for insulin and INSR has been suggested.16,17 Moreover, associations between insulin treatment and the occurrence of cancer have been observed.18,19 A role for INSR in cancer therapy is becoming eminent since it has been suggested that the non-metabolic, oncofoetal isoform INSR-A is the variant of INSR that is overexpressed in cancer.20,21 Targeting only INSR-A would then become possible without intervention in the metabolic functions of the insulin/INSR pathway.