An immunohistochemical investigation of the expression of somatostatin receptor subtypes - should therapeutic trials be performed to determine the efficacy of somatostatin analogs in treating advanced thyroid malignances?

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Somatostatin, published as a clinical trial.

The aim was to investigate the SSTR subtypes expression in these aggressive thyroid tumors.

Why It Was Studied

The presence of SSTR-1-5 has not been sufficiently explored in poorly differentiated and undifferentiated thyroid tumors.

The study also discusses the usefulness of SSTR analogs as an alternative to conventional forms of therapy.

Who Took Part

The study group was 11 patients.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

A group of benign thyroid pathologies consisting of 11 patients was also included.

How the Study Was Run

The analysis was performed by immunohistochemistry on the 14 archived poorly differentiated and 4 anaplastic thyroid carcinomas.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Immunohistochemistry, Neoplasm Proteins, Receptors, Somatostatin, Somatostatin and Thyroid Neoplasms.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of Somatostatin in 11 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 8 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2015 (Experimental and clinical endocrinology & diabetes : official journal, German Society of Endocrinology [and] German Diabetes Association), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Somatostatin compound page, all human trials.