Somatostatin receptors and breast cancer.

The study of breast carcinogenesis is complicated by the heterogeneity of the disease. One way of simplifying is to subdivide these tumors into clinically relevant subgroups. There are indications that breast carcinomas, of which some express the somatostatin receptor (SS-R), can be divided this way. Expression of somatostatin receptors (SS-R's) in human primary breast cancer has a very high incidence. This can be demonstrated by in vitro autoradiography and in vivo by somatostatin receptor scintigraphy. However the clinical significance of somatostatin receptor expression in human breast cancer needs to be investigated. In this review article we summarize the current understanding of the functional role of somatostatin receptors in human breast cancer. Their relationship with neuroendocrine differentiation of the cancers and genetic and patient characteristics, the role of in vivo SS-R's visualization, and the possible medical and radiotherapeutic implications of these findings are discussed.