Is Somatostatin Receptor and Dopamine Receptor profiling useful in the management of silent somatotroph tumors?

AbstractSilent somatotroph tumors (sSTs) are pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) which do not give rise to the clinical syndrome of acromegaly. Differently to their functioning counterparts, the adjuvant medical treatment with somatostatin analogues (SSAs) or dopamine receptors agonists (DAs) has been scarcely addressed in these tumors. As preliminary results of an ongoing research on silencing mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of sSTs, we have characterized by qRT-PCR the expression of SSTRs and DRDs in a large series of 18 silent and 68 functioning STs. Although the expression ofSSTR2 andSSTR5 was lower in sSTs than in functioning ones, we found a negative correlation betweenSSTR2 and the tumor size of the sSTs. Additionally, levels of expression ofDRD2 were similar between the two subtypes suggesting a possible basis for the treatment of these tumors with SSAs and DAs.
Source: Journal of Endocrinological Investigation - Category: Endocrinology Source Type: research