Somatostatin and dopamine receptors

The discovery of the new properties of SSRs and DRs has led to a renewed interest in agents targeting these receptors and has opened new perspectives for medical treatment of patients with pituitary and neuroendocrine tumors resistant to the "classical", currently available analogs. Moreover, SSRs and DRs crosstalk at membrane level may trigger alternative intracellular pathways or enhance the signalling for the control of cell growth. New somatostatin analogs and hybrid molecules, which display a broader and different spectrum of activities compared to conventional analogs, seem to be a promising therapeutic alternative for the control of hormone secretion and, hopefully, to reduce tumor burden. Receptor profile characterization is crucial for the accurate selection of patients potentially responsive to a given therapy.