Endocrine Abstracts

Somatostatin is a ubiquitous neuropeptidic inhibitor of various cellular functions including endocrine and exocrine secretion. Moreover, this peptide may control cell proliferation in normal and tumoral tissues. Somatostatin biological effects are mediated by five subtype of G protein-coupled receptor, sst1 through sst5. The somatostatin analogs have high affinity for sst2 receptor and the success of in vivo peptide therapy is correlated with high levels of sst2 in th...

Somatotroph adenoma represent 20% of pituitary adenoma. Although often considered as benign, they can induce serious neurological and metabolic complications. GH hypersecretion can be inhibited by somatostatin agonists such as octreotide or lanreotide. However, some GH levels reach normal values in only 50% of treated patiens. The decreased sensitivity to the somatostatin agonists was shown to be related to a lower expression of the sst2 gene.To reverse ...