Somatostatin receptor type 2 expression in Merkel cell carcinoma as a prognostic factor

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive, polyomavirus associated tumor with neuroendocrine and epithelial differentiation. The status of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) are well characterized in neuroendocrine tumors [1, 2]. The levels of expression of SSTRs differ considerably in different tumors, immunohistochemistry (IHC) to identify the features of their key parameters allow us to assign a reasonable therapy with somatostatin analogues. The cases of successful treatment and diagnostics of metastatic MCC using radiolabelled somatostatin analogues [3, 4, 5] described in the literature. But the role of SSTRs expression in behavior of disease is not available for MCC.

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