Octreotide as first-line treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer.

Octreotide is a synthetic somatostatin analogue which has shown inhibitory activity against human breast cancer cells in culture. Ten patients with metastatic breast cancer and no prior hormonal therapy exposure received octreotide at 150 micrograms subcutaneously thrice daily. No objective responses were observed and the median time to treatment failure was short at 57 days.