it is believed that one skilled in the art can , based on the description herein , utilize the present invention to its fullest extent . the following specific embodiments are , therefore , to be construed as merely illustrative , and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever . unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs . also , all publications , patent applications , patents , and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference . somatostatin ( somatotropin release inhibiting factor or srif ) has both a 14 amino acid isoform ( somatostatin - 14 ) and a 28 amino acid isoform ( somatostatin - 28 ). see wilson , j . & amp ; foster , d ., williams textbook of endocrinology , p . 510 ( 7th ed ., 1985 ). the compound is an inhibitor of secretion of the growth hormone and was originally isolated from the hypothalamus . brazeau , et al ., science 179 : 77 ( 1973 ). native somatostatin has a very short duration of effect in vivo since it is rapidly inactivated by endo - and exopeptidase . many novel analogs ( e . g ., peptide and non - peptide compounds ) have been prepared in order to enhance the duration of effect , biological activity , and selectivity ( e . g ., for the particular somatostatin receptor ) of this hormone . such analogs of somatostatin will be called &# 34 ; somatostatin agonists &# 34 ; herein . various somatostatin receptors ( sstrs ) have been isolated , e . g ., sstr - 1 , sstr - 2 , sstr - 3 , sstr - 4 , and sstr - 5 . thus , the somatostatin agonist may be a sstr - 1 agonist , sstr - 2 agonist , sstr - 3 agonist , sstr - 4 agonist of a sstr - 5 agonist . what is meant by a somatostatin type - 5 receptor agonist ( i . e ., sstr - 5 agonist ) is a compound which ( 1 ) has a high binding affinity ( e . g ., ki of less than 5 nm or preferably less than 2 nm or less than 1 nm ) for sstr - 5 ( e . g ., as defined by the receptor binding assay described below ) and ( 2 ) decreases lipid levels ( e . g ., cholesterol , glycerols , or triacylglycerols ) in a patient ( e . g ., as shown by the biological assay described below ). what is meant by a somatostatin type - 5 receptor selective agonist is a somatostatin agonist which ( 1 ) has a higher binding affinity ( i . e ., ki ) for sstr - 5 than for either sstr - 1 , sstr - 2 , sstr - 3 , or sstr - 4 and ( 2 ) decreases lipid levels ( e . g ., cholesterol , glycerols , or triacylglycerols ) in a patient ( e . g ., as shown by the biological assay described below ). in one embodiment , the sstr - 5 selective agonist has a ki for sstr - 5 that is at least 2 times ( e . g ., at least 5 times or at least 10 times ) less than its ki for the sstr - 2 receptor ( e . g ., as defined by the receptor binding assay described below ). in one embodiment , the somatostatin type - 5 receptor selective agonist is also a sstr - 5 agonist . examples of somatostatin agonists are those covered by formulae or those specifically recited in the publications set forth below , all of which are hereby incorporated by reference . horvath , a . et al . abstract , &# 34 ; conformations of somatostatin analogs having antitumor activity &# 34 ;, 22nd european peptide symposium , sep . 13 - 19 , 1992 , interlaken , switzerland ; examples of sstr - 5 selective somatostatin agonists include , but are not limited to , the following somatostatin analogs which are disclosed in the above - cited references : note that for all somatostatin agonists described herein , each amino acid residue represents the structure of -- nh -- c ( r ) h -- co --, in which r is the side chain ( e . g ., ch 3 for ala ). lines between amino acid residues represent peptide bonds which join the amino acids . also , where the amino acid residue is optically active , it is the l - form configuration that is intended unless d - form is expressly designated . a disulfide bond ( e . g ., a disulfide bridge ) exists between the two free thiols of the cys residues ; however , it is not shown . the methods for synthesizing somatostatin agonists is well documented and are within the ability of a person of ordinary skill in the art . synthesis of short amino acid sequences is well established in the peptide art . for example , synthesis of h - d - phe - phe - phe - d - trp - lys - thr - phe - thr - nh 2 , described above , can be achieved by following the protocol set forth in example i of european patent application 0 395 417 a1 . the synthesis of somatostatin agonists with a substituted n - terminus can be achieved , for example , by following the protocol set forth in wo 88 / 02756 , european patent application no . 0 329 295 , and pct publication no . wo 94 / 04752 . the human sstr - 1 , sstr - 2 , sstr - 3 , sstr - 4 , and sstr - 5 cdna clones have been described ( sstr - 1 and sstr - 2 in yamada , y ., et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . usa ., 89 : 251 - 255 ( 1992 ); sstr - 3 in yamada , et al ., mol . endocrinol . 6 : 2136 - 2142 ( 1993 ); and sstr - 4 and sstr - 5 in yamada , et al ., biochem . biophys . res . commun . 195 : 844 - 852 ( 1993 )) and are also available from american type culture collection ( atcc , rockville , md .) ( atcc nos . 79044 ( sstr - 1 ), 79046 ( sstr - 2 ), and 79048 ( sstr - 3 )). based on the restriction endonuclease maps , the entire coding region of each sstr cdna may be excised by suitable restriction endonuclease digestion ( maniatis , t ., et al ., molecular cloning -- a laboratory manual , cshl , 1982 ). restriction endonucleases are available from new england biolabs ( beverly , mass .). this cdna fragment was inserted into the mammalian expression vector , pcmv ( russell , d ., et al ., j . biol . chem ., 264 : 8222 - 8229 ( 1989 )), using standard molecular biology techniques ( see e . g ., maniatis , t ., et al ., molecular cloning , -- a laboratory manual , cold spring harbor laboratory , 1982 ) to produce the expression plasmid , pcmv - human sstr - 1 through pcmv - human sstr - 5 . other mammalian expression vectors include pcdna1 / amp ( invitrogen , sandlesy , calif .). the expression plasmids were introduced into the suitable bacterial host , e . coli hb101 ( stratagene , la jolla , calif . and plasmid dnas , for transfection , were prepared on cesium chloride gradients . cho - k1 ( ovary , chinese hamster ) cells were obtained from atcc ( atcc no . ccl 61 ). the cells were grown and maintained in ham &# 39 ; s f12 media ( gibco brl , grand island , n . y .) supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum under standard tissue culture conditions . for transfection , the cells were seeded at a density 1 × 10 6 / 60 - cm plate ( baxter scientific products , mcgraw park , ill .). dna mediated transfection was carried out using the calcium phosphate co - precipitation method ( ausubel , f . m ., et al ., current protocols in molecular biology , john wiley & amp ; sons , 1987 ). the plasmid prsv - neo ( atcc ; atcc no . 37198 ) was included as a selectable marker at 1 / 10 the concentration of the expression plasmid . cho - k1 clonal cell lines that have stably inherited the transfected dna were selected for growth in ham &# 39 ; s f12 media containing 10 % fetal bovine serum and 0 . 5 mg / ml of g418 ( sigma ). the cells were ring - cloned and expanded in the same media for analysis . expression of the human sstr - 1 through sstr - 5 receptors in the cho - k1 cells were detected by northern blot analysis of total rna prepared from the cells ( sambrook , j . e ., et al ., molecular cloning -- a laboratory manual , ed . 2 ., cold spring harbor laboratory , cold spring harbor , n . y ., 1989 ) and by receptor binding using [ 125 i - tyr 11 ] somatostatin - 14 as a ligand . transfected cell lines expressing the human sstr receptors were clonally expanded in culture and used in the following sstr binding protocol . crude membranes were prepared by homogenization of the transfected cells in 20 ml of ice - cold 50 mm tris - hcl with a polytron homogenizer ( setting 6 , 15 sec ). buffer was added to obtain a final volume of 40 ml , and the homogenate was centrifuged in a sorval ss - 34 rotor at 39 , 000 g for 10 min at 0 - 4 ° c . the resulting supernatant was decanted and discarded . the pellet was rehomogenized in ice - cold buffer , diluted , and centrifuged as before . the final pellet was resuspended in the 10 mm tris hcl and held on ice for the receptor binding assay . aliquots of the membrane preparation were incubated for 30 min at 30 ° c . with 0 . 05 nm [ 125 i - tyr 11 ] somatostatin - 14 ( 2000 ci / mmol ; amersham corp ., arlington heights , ill .) in 50 mm hepes ( ph 7 . 4 ) containing a test somatostatin agonist of various concentrations ( e . g ., 10 - 11 to 10 - 6 ), 10 mg / ml bovine serum albumin ( fraction v ) ( sigma chemical co ., st . louis , mo . ), mgcl 2 ( 5 mm ), trasylol ( 200 kiu ml ), bacitracin ( 0 . 02 mg / ml ), and phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride ( 0 . 02 mg / ml ). the final assay volume was 0 . 3 ml . the incubations were terminated by rapid filtration through gf / c filters ( pre - soaked in 0 . 3 % polyethylenimine for 30 min ) using a brandel filtration manifold . each tube and filter were then washed three times with 5 ml aliquots of ice - cold buffer . specific binding was defined as the total [ 125 i - tyr 11 ] srif - 14 bound minus that bound in the presence of 1000 nm . the ki values for the tested somatostatin agonists were calculated by using the following formula : ki = ic 50 /[ 1 +( lc / lec )] where ic 50 is the concentration of test somatostatin agonist required to inhibit 50 percent of the specific binding of the radioligand [ 125 i - tyr 11 ] somatostatin - 14 , lc is the concentration of the radioligand ( 0 . 05 nm ), and lec is the equilibrium dissociation constant of the radioligand ( 0 . 16 nm ). the ki values ( nm ) for the tested somatostatin agonists are shown in table i . table i______________________________________hsstr - 1 hsstr - 2 hsstr - 3 hsstr - 4 hsstr - 5______________________________________somatostat - 2 . 26 0 . 23 1 . 2 1 . 8 1 . 41 in - 14 somatostat - 2 . 38 0 . 30 1 . 3 7 . 93 0 . 4 in - 28 bim - 23268 1227 15 . 06 545 3551 0 . 42 bim - 23052 97 . 6 11 . 96 5 . 6 127 1 . 22 bim - 23272 47 . 7 3 . 23 10 . 9 753 1 . 01 bim - 23284 27 . 9 19 . 3 35 . 6 58 . 6 0 . 85 bim - 23295 86 . 9 6 . 19 9 . 7 3 . 4 0 . 34 bim - 23313 151 4 . 78 25 . 5 55 . 3 0 . 30______________________________________ the obese ( fa / fa ) zucker and its derivative in the zucker diabetic fatty ( zdf / drt - fa ) are excellent models of diabetes - induced dyspilidemia ( shafrir , e ., diabetes / metabolism rev . 8 : 179 - 208 ( 1992 ); peterson , r . g ., et al ., ilar news 32 : 16 - 19 ( 1990 )). the animals develop progressive hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia . the effect of chronic treatment with bim - 23268 on plasma lipids was examined in an obese animal model , the fatty ( fa / fa ) zucker rats ( bray , g ., federation proceedings 36 : q48 - 153 ( 1977 )) ( purchased from harlan - olac , bicester , oxon , u . k .). eleven male fatty zucker rats weighing about 450 grams were randomly divided into 2 groups and their initial body weights recorded . the animals were housed in pairs in a normal 12 hour light / dark cycle at 20 ± 2 ° c . and fed a standard laboratory rat diet ( beekay rat and mouse diet , bantin & amp ; kingman , hull , humberside , u . k .) overnight ad libitum . for the group assigned to receive drug treatment , the rats received bim - 23268c at 3 mg / kg , by subcutaneous injection twice a day at 10 : 00 a . m . and 5 : 00 p . m . the other group was treated with a subcutaneous injection of 0 . 1 ml / 100 g of saline twice a day at 10 : 00 a . m . and 5 : 00 p . m . the animals were subjected to the bim - 23268 or saline treatment for a total of six days . on the last day of treatment ( day 6 ), food was removed at 5 : 00 p . m . and the rats fasted overnight . at 9 : 00 a . m . the next day , the animals were subjected to a glucose challenge , given as a 0 . 8 gram / kg of glucose orally . periodic 400 ul of blood samples were taken from the tail vein ( peterson , r . g ., ilar news 32 : 16 - 19 ( 1990 )) at 60 min . and 30 min . before , and at 30 , 60 , 90 , and 120 min . after the administration of the glucose challenge ( 08 . gram / kg orally ). aprotinin ( traysylol , bayer uk , hayward &# 39 ; s heath , w . sussex , u . k .) and heparin ( sigma chemical co ., poole , dorset , u . k .) were added to the blood samples to a final concentration of 400 kiu / ml and 100 units / ml , respectively . plasma fractions were prepared from these samples by centrifugation at 400 × g in a microfuge , for the estimation of triglycerides and glycerol . samples were then stored at - 80 ° c . until assayed . plasma glycerol and triglycerides were determined using the sigma enzymatic ( tinder ) calorimetric assay kit ( cat # 337 - b , sigma chemical co ., poole , dorset , u . k .) and measuring absorbance at 540 nm in a spectrophotometer . after 6 days of treatment with bim - 23268c at 3 mg / kg , twice a day by subcutaneous injection , both plasma glycerol and triglycerides were significantly lowered , as exemplified by the samples taken at time 30 and 60 min . before the oral glucose challenge . the administration of an oral glucose challenge had no significant effect on plasma lipids . the bim - 23268c treated group showed significantly lower plasma glycerol and triglycerides through the 2 - hour test period . the results suggested that bim - 23268c , following a 6 - day treatment period at the prescribed dose was effective in reducing hypertriglyceridemia . the effect of the somatostatin agonist will be assessed for a reduction in total cholesterol , total triglycerides , and total ldl cholesterol ( e . g ., as described in dubrey , s . w ., et al ., diabetes 43 : 831 - 835 ( 1994 ). the long term effect of the drug is examined by the change in coronary artery disease ( reviewed in donahue , the endocrinologist , 4 : 112 - 116 ( 1994 ). the foregoing description has been limited to specific embodiments of this invention . it will be apparent , however , that variations and modifications may be made to the invention , with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the invention . such embodiments are also within the scope of the following claims .
the present invention relates to a method of decreasing body weight in a patient . the method includes the step of administering a therapeutically effective amount of a type - 5 selective somatostatin agonist to the patient .