Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (Volume II)

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Causes, Screening and Diagnosis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 4246

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Department of Surgery, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Interests: neuroendocrine tumors: diagnosis and treatment
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This collection is the second edition of the previous one "Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms" (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/Gastroenteropancreatic_Neuroendocrine_Neoplasms).

This Special Issue focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of gastroenteropancreatic tumors, with world-leading experts in the field providing readers with contemporary treatment and diagnosis algorithms, as well as a glimpse into novel and evolving treatments.

Gastrointestinal pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-Nets) present many diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to their relative rarity and complexity. Therefore, the latest findings on biomarkers, peptide receptor-based therapy, imaging therapy, etc., for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic tumors are exciting. We would like to invite an array of scientific readers to contribute their research to this Special Issue of Cancers, dedicated to the generic topic of the diagnosis and treatment of gastroenteropancreatic tumors, such as gastric neuroendocrine tumors, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors.

We would like to thank you in advance for your enthusiastic participation in this exciting Special Issue of Cancers.

Prof. Dr. Peter Stålberg
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • biomarkers
  • imaging
  • gastric NETs
  • pancreatic NETs
  • small intestinal NETs
  • receptor-based therapy

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 854 KiB  
Article
Phase II Study of Nanoliposomal Irinotecan (Nal-IRI) with 5-Fluorouracil and Leucovorin in Refractory Advanced High-Grade Neuroendocrine Cancer of Gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) or Unknown Origin
by Sarbajit Mukherjee, Harsha Pattnaik, Sahithi Sonti, Mrinalini Ramesh, Prantesh Jain, Robert A. Ramirez, Christos Fountzilas, Deepak Vadehra, Kristopher Attwood and Renuka Iyer
Cancers 2025, 17(2), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17020224 - 12 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1235
Abstract
Background: Neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) are treated with a frontline platinum–etoposide combination with no standard second-line therapies. We explored a novel combination of nanoliposomal irinotecan (Nal-IRI), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and leucovorin (LV) in advanced refractory NECs and investigated the impact of UGT1A1*28 polymorphism on treatment [...] Read more.
Background: Neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) are treated with a frontline platinum–etoposide combination with no standard second-line therapies. We explored a novel combination of nanoliposomal irinotecan (Nal-IRI), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and leucovorin (LV) in advanced refractory NECs and investigated the impact of UGT1A1*28 polymorphism on treatment outcomes and toxicity. Methods: We conducted an open-label, single-arm, multi-center Phase 2 trial in advanced NEC patients of gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) or unknown origin with progression or intolerance to first-line therapy. Eligible patients received nal-IRI 70 mg/m2 and leucovorin 400 mg/m2, followed by 5-FU 2400 mg/m2 biweekly till disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicity. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed on blood/tissue samples at baseline and during treatment. Results: Eleven patients were enrolled, with nine evaluable for the primary endpoint. Seven were male, the median age was 66.7 years, and the median Ki-67 was 90%. We observed partial response in one patient, stable disease in six patients, and progressive disease in two patients. The median OS was 9.4 months (95% CI 2.9–29.3), and the median PFS was 4.4 months (95% CI 1.7–6.7). The most common adverse events were diarrhea (45%), nausea (45%), vomiting (45%), and fatigue (45%). The most common genetic mutations on NGS were TP53 (88.9%), CHEK2 (88.9%), and APC (33.3%). Patients with CHEK2 and APC mutation had longer PFS (p = 0.005 and p = 0.013, respectively). UGT1A1*28 polymorphism was not associated with OS, PFS, or toxicity. Conclusion: Nal-IRI with 5-FU/LV is a safe and effective treatment for refractory high-grade NECs of GEP or unknown origin. Future studies should explore novel combinations with Nal-IRI in high-grade NECs both in frontline and refractory settings. Full article
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23 pages, 5152 KiB  
Article
Establishment and Thorough Characterization of Xenograft (PDX) Models Derived from Patients with Pancreatic Cancer for Molecular Analyses and Chemosensitivity Testing
by Diana Behrens, Ulrike Pfohl, Theresia Conrad, Michael Becker, Bernadette Brzezicha, Britta Büttner, Silvia Wagner, Cora Hallas, Rita Lawlor, Vladimir Khazak, Michael Linnebacher, Thomas Wartmann, Iduna Fichtner, Jens Hoffmann, Mathias Dahlmann and Wolfgang Walther
Cancers 2023, 15(24), 5753; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15245753 - 8 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2543
Abstract
Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor models are essential for identifying new biomarkers, signaling pathways and novel targets, to better define key factors of therapy response and resistance mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed at establishing pancreas carcinoma (PC) PDX models with thorough molecular characterization, and [...] Read more.
Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor models are essential for identifying new biomarkers, signaling pathways and novel targets, to better define key factors of therapy response and resistance mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed at establishing pancreas carcinoma (PC) PDX models with thorough molecular characterization, and the identification of signatures defining responsiveness toward drug treatment. In total, 45 PC-PDXs were generated from 120 patient tumor specimens and the identity of PDX and corresponding patient tumors was validated. The majority of engrafted PDX models represent ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC). The PDX growth characteristics were assessed, with great variations in doubling times (4 to 32 days). The mutational analyses revealed an individual mutational profile of the PDXs, predominantly showing alterations in the genes encoding KRAS, TP53, FAT1, KMT2D, MUC4, RNF213, ATR, MUC16, GNAS, RANBP2 and CDKN2A. Sensitivity of PDX toward standard of care (SoC) drugs gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin and abraxane, and combinations thereof, revealed PDX models with sensitivity and resistance toward these treatments. We performed correlation analyses of drug sensitivity of these PDX models and their molecular profile to identify signatures for response and resistance. This study strongly supports the importance and value of PDX models for improvement in therapies of PC. Full article
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