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Treatment Approach to Carcinomas of Unknown Primary

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Biomarkers in Carcinoma of Unknown Primary

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Abstract

By definition, carcinomas of unknown primary (CUP) are metastatic tumors, the origin of which has not been identified despite further research. The incidence of CUP is declining, but it is still a significant problem. CUP has a worse prognosis than metastatic cancers with known primary.

The recommended treatment approach for patients with CUP is a broad-spectrum combination chemotherapy. Empirical combination chemotherapy had marginal benefit even after the development of modern chemotherapeutics.

Recent advances in the molecular pathologic field have yielded many targetable alterations, and many targeted therapeutics are developed. Targeted therapies and immunotherapy showed promising results and changed our perspective on cancer treatment. We are in the early periods of a new era in which personalized cancer treatment is aimed.

Personalized cancer treatment can only be possible for patients with CUP by using biomarkers like tissue of origin (TOO) studies and comprehensive molecular profiling.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Katip Çelebi University, Izmir, Turkey

    Sinan Unal

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey

    Hüseyin Salih Semiz

  3. Department of Clinical Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey

    Ilhan Oztop

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  1. Sinan Unal
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  2. Hüseyin Salih Semiz
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  3. Ilhan Oztop
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

    Sulen Sarioglu

  2. Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

    Ozgul Sagol

  3. Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

    Anil Aysal

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Unal, S., Semiz, H.S., Oztop, I. (2022). Treatment Approach to Carcinomas of Unknown Primary. In: Sarioglu, S., Sagol, O., Aysal, A. (eds) Biomarkers in Carcinoma of Unknown Primary. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84432-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84432-5_15

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