TRANSPLANTATION OF A HUMAN SOMATOSTATINOMA INTO NUDE-MICE

Pancreatic somatostatinoma is a rare clinical entity and the causes of its various symptoms are not well understood. Recently, we treated a 72-year-old woman with somatostatinoma. A biopsy specimen was transpla nted into nude mice. We investigated whether the transplanted tumor ce lls retained their physiological properties. They increased in size an d the plasma level of somatostatin reached 90 pg/ml. Immunohistochemic al staining showed somatostatin immunoreactivity in the transplanted s ubcutaneous tissue. Xenotransplantation of this human somatostatinoma into nude mice was successful in maintaining the somatostatin-releasin g properties. This system may help us to better understand the biologi cal properties of somatostatinoma.