Somatostatin analogues: treatment of pituitary and neuroendocrine tumors

This chapter summarizes the most recent data on the use of the somatostatin analogues (SSAs), octreotide (OCT) and lanreotide for the treatment of patients with pituitary and neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). These two analogues have a high affinity for somatostatin receptor (SSR) sub-types 2 and 5. The major indications of these compounds are GH- and TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas, secreting NETs and non-functioning NETs in progression. Pasireotide is a new analogue, with a receptor pattern different from previous analogues since it binds with high affinity to SSR types 1, 2, 3 and 5. This analogue will be available to treat patients with ACTH-secreting adenomas in a short time. A recent study has also demonstrated a beneficial effect of OCT long-acting release in patients with non-functioning NETs independently from their progression status. These data open the treatment with SSAs in all NET patients.