The focus of these proceedings is on the interplay of genetics, hormone secretion, regulation, and molecular receptors for growth factors and insulin. Contributors deal with the structural and regulatory aspects of IGFs, insulin-like growth factor binding proteins, the importance of receptors for binding to insulin, and insulin and IGF in the central nervous system. IGFs are implicated in a widening circle of clinical states, among them, diabetes, renal failure, steroid excess, lung and breast cancer, disorders of nutrition and metabolism, and disturbances of the brain which may be involved in Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome, and megalencephaly.