title: WOMEN IN CANCER THEMATIC REVIEW: Systemic therapies in neuroendocrine tumors and novel approaches toward personalized medicine.
abstract: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a group of heterogenous neoplasms. Evidence-based treatment options for antiproliferative therapy include somatostatin analogues, the mTOR inhibitor everolimus, the multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with 177-Lu-octreotate. In the absence of definite predictive markers, therapeutic decision making follows clinical and pathological criteria. As objective response rates with targeted drugs are rather low, and response duration is limited in most patients, numerous combination therapies targeting multiple pathways have been explored in the field. Upfront combination of drugs, however, is associated with increasing toxicity and has shown little benefit. Major advancements in the molecular understanding of NET based on genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic analysis have been achieved with prognostic and therapeutic impact. New insight into molecular alterations has paved the way to biomarker-driven clinical trials and may facilitate treatment stratification toward personalized medicine in the near future. However, an improved understanding of the complexity of pathway interactions is required for successful treatment. A systems biology approach is one of the tools that may help to achieve this endeavor.
authors.affiliation: Medical DepartmentDivision of Hepatology and Gastroenterology including Metabolic Diseases, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany marianne.pavel@charite.de.
authors.forename: Marianne E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Pavel
authors.affiliation: Institute of PathologyCharité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods; D018358:Neuroendocrine Tumors / Q000628:therapy*; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods*
keywords: epigenetics; evidence-based medicine; molecular genetics; novel drugs; predictive biomarker