Somatostatin analogue SMS 201-995 reduces serum IGF-I levels in patients with neoplasms potentially dependent on IGF-I.

Tumors of several organs have been shown to bear cell surface receptors for insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), and to exhibit dependence on this mitogen for optimum proliferation both in vivo and in vitro. To investigate the feasibility of a novel form of endocrine therapy that would exploit such dependence, we treated 8 patients with non-endocrine solid tumours with the somatostatin analogue SMS 201-995, in an effort to reduce growth hormone-stimulated IGF-I production. Significant decreases in basal and arginine-stimulated serum growth hormone and serum IGF-I were noted. This approach deserves evaluation as a potentially useful form of palliative endocrine therapy for certain cancers.