Predictive factors of response to Sunitinib in metastatic Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (mGISTs): A retrospective analysis

Prognostic significance of circulating PD-1, PD-L1, pan-BTN3As and BTN3A1 in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumours (mGISTs)

Abstract Background Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) account for 1% of all primary gastrointestinal cancers. In cancer, suppressive immune checkpoints, including butyrophilin sub-family 3A/CD277 receptors (BTN3A), programmed death protein (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1, are often hyper-activated to ensure an effective evasion of tumor cells from immune surveillance. Since recent studies showed that PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in cancer may be an important prognostic factor, the aim of our study was to investigate if soluble forms of inhibitory immune checkpoints can help predict survival in metastatic GIST patients. Methods Using specific homemade ELISA assays not yet commercially availa…

Safety of high doses of somatostatin analogs in well differentiated NENs in elderly

Abstract Background Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are a group of heterogeneous neoplasms which can be treated with different therapies: in well differentiated (WD) NENs analogs of somatostatin (SSA) can be used considering their proved antineoplastic and antisecretory effects. This is a multicenter study to investigate the safety of high doses (HDD) analogs of somatostatin (SSA) in WD NENs with particular attention for patients over 70 years of age. Methods We collected clinical data from 13 Italian NENs dedicated Units. Patients with WD NENs, in progression on previous treatments, included SSA, and subsequently treated with HDD-SSA, were considered. Results 170 pts were included: 61.76% …