Abstract
Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEPNETs) are rare neoplasms that require a multidisciplinary approach for an optimal management. The traditional cytotoxic agents are of limited efficacy in the treatment of these tumors. A better understanding of the molecular pathways that characterize tumor growth has provided novel targets in cancer treatment. Several proteins have been implicated as having a crucial role in GEPNETs. Several proangiogenic molecules are overexpressed in GEPNETs including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors, and related signaling pathway components such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), insulin growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) and PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. In this article we aim to review the recent development of the main molecules that target these proteins and have showed promising activity in the treatment of GEPNETs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Oberg K, Astrup L, Eriksson B et al (2004) Guidelines for the management of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (including bronchopulmonary and thymic neoplasms). Part I-general overview. Acta Oncol 43(7):617–625
Tomassetti P, Migliori M, Lalli S, Campana D, Tomassetti V, Corinaldesi R (2001) Epidemiology, clinical features and diagnosis of gastroenteropancreatic endocrine tumours. Acta Oncol 12(Suppl 2):S95–99
Oberg K, Norheim I, Lundqvist G, Wide L (1987) Cytotoxic treatment in patients with malignant carcinoid tumors. Response to streptozocin–alone or in combination with 5-FU. Acta Oncol 26(6):429–432
Sun W, Lipsitz S, Catalano P, Mailliard JA, Haller DG (2005) Phase II/III Study of Doxorubicin With Fluorouracil Compared With Streptozocin With Fluorouracil or Dacarbazine in the Treatment of Advanced Carcinoid Tumors: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Study E1281. J Clin Oncol 23(22):4897–4904
Fjällskog ML, Granberg DP, Welin SL et al (2001) Treatment with cisplatin and etoposide in patients with neuroendocrine tumors. Cancer 92(5):1101–1107
Vilar E, Salazar R, Pérez-García J, Cortes J, Oberg K, Tabernero J (2007) Chemotherapy and role of the proliferation marker Ki-67 in digestive neuroendocrine tumors. Endocr Relat Cancer 14(2):221–232
Kouvaraki MA, Ajani JA, Hoff P et al (2004) Fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and streptozocin in the treatment of patients with locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic endocrine carcinomas. J Clin Oncol 22(23):4762–4771
Moertel CG, Hanley JA (1979) Combination chemotherapy trials in metastatic carcinoid tumor and the malignant carcinoid syndrome. Cancer Clin Trials 2(4):327–334
Falconi M, Plockinger U, Kwekkeboom DJ et al (2006) Well-differentiated pancreatic nonfunctioning tumors/carcinoma. Neuroendocrinology 84(3):196–192
Eriksson B, Klöppel G, Krenning E et al (2008) Consensus guidelines for the management of patients with digestive neuroendocrine tumors–well-differentiated jejunal-ileal tumor/carcinoma. Neuroendocrinology 87(1):8–19
Modlin IM, Oberg K, Chung DC et al (2008) Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. Lancet Oncol 9(1):61–72
Terris B, Scoazec JY, Rubbia L et al (1998) Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in digestive neuroendocrine tumours. Histopathology 32(2):133–138
Casanovas O, Hicklin DJ, Bergers G, Hanahan D (2005) Drug resistance by evasion of antiangiogenic targeting of VEGF signaling in late-stage pancreatic islet tumors. Cancer Cell 8(4):299–309
Papouchado B, Erickson LA, Rohlinger AL et al (2005) Epidermal growth factor receptor and activated epidermal growth factor receptor expression in gastrointestinal carcinoids and pancreatic endocrine carcinomas. Mod Pathol 18(10):1329–1335
Höpfner M, Sutter AP, Gerst B, Zeitz M, Scherübl H (2003) A novel approach in the treatment of neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumours. Targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor by gefitinib (ZD1839). Br J Cancer 89(9):1766–1775
von Wichert G, Jehle PM, Hoeflich A et al (2000) Insulin-like growth factor-I is an autocrine regulator of chromogranin A secretion and growth in human neuroendocrine tumor cells. Cancer Res 60(16):4573–4581
Vignot S, Faivre S, Aguirre D, Raymond E (2005) mTOR-targeted therapy of cancer with rapamycin derivatives. Ann Oncol 16(4):525–537
Wang L, Ignat A, Axiotis CA (2002) Differential expression of the PTEN tumor suppressor protein in fetal and adult neuroendocrine tissues and tumors: progressive loss of PTEN expression in poorly differentiated neuroendocrine neoplasms. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol 10(2):139–146
Ferrara N (2002) VEGF and the quest for tumour angiogenesis factors. Nat Rev Cancer 2(10):795–803
Jain RK (2003) Molecular regulation of vessel maturation. Nat Med 9(6):685–693
Hicklin DJ, Ellis LM (2005) Role of the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway in tumor growth and angiogenesis. J Clin Oncol 23(5):1011–1027
Dvorak HF (2002) Vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor: a critical cytokine in tumor angiogenesis and a potential target for diagnosis and therapy. J Clin Oncol 20(21):4368–4380
Gray MJ, Wey JS, Belcheva A et al (2005) Neuropilin-1 suppresses tumorigenic properties in a human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line lacking neuropilin-1 coreceptors. Cancer Res 65(9):3664–3670
Kim KJ, Li B, Winer J et al (1993) Inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor-induced angiogenesis suppresses tumour growth in vivo. Nature 362(6423):841–844
Dvorak HF, Brown LF, Detmar M, Dvorak AM (1995) Vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor, microvascular hyperpermeability, and angiogenesis. Am J Pathol 146(5):1029–1039
Manley PW, Martiny-Baron G, Schlaeppi JM, Wood JM (2002) Therapies directed at vascular endothelial growth factor. Expert Opin Investig Drugs 11(12):1715–1736
Ferrara N, Hillan KJ, Gerber HP, Novotny W (2004) Discovery and development of bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF antibody for treating cancer. Nat Rev Drug Discov 3:391–400
Hurwitz H, Fehrenbacher L, Novotny W et al (2004) Bevacizumab plus irinotecan, fluorouracil, and leucovorin for metastatic colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med 350(23):2335–2342
Yao JC, Phan A, Hoff PM et al (2008) Targeting vascular endothelial growth factor in advanced carcinoid tumor: a random assignment phase II study of depot octreotide with bevacizumab and pegylated interferon alfa-2b. J Clin Oncol 26(8):1316–1323
Kunz PL, Kuo T, Kaiser HL et al (2008) A phase II study of capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and bevacizumab for metastatic or unresectable neuroendocrine tumors: Preliminary results. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 26:15502
Venook AP, Ko AH, Tempero MA et al (2008) Phase II trial of FOLFOX plus bevacizumab in advanced, progressive neuroendocrine tumors. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 26:15545
Kulke MH, Stuart K, Earle CC et al (2006) A phase II study of temozolomide and bevacizumab in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 24(18S):4044
Mendel DB, Laird AD, Xin X et al (2003) In vivo antitumor activity of SU11248, a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor receptors: determination of a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationship. Clin Cancer Res 9(1):327–337
Kulke MH, Lenz H-J, Meropol NJ et al (2008) Activity of sunitinib in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors. J Clin Oncol 26(20):3403–3410
Bello CJ, Deprimo SE, Friece C et al (2006) Analysis of circulating biomarkers of sunitinib malate in patients with unresectable neuroendocrine tumors (NET): VEGF, IL-8, and soluble VEGF receptors 2 and 3. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 24(18S):4045
Raymond E, Raoul JL, Niccoli P et al (2009) Phase III, randomized, double-blind trial of sunitinib vs placebo in patients with progressive, well-differentiated, malignant pancreatic islet cell tumors. World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2009:0013
Strosberg JR, Campos T, Kvols L (2009) Phase II study of sunitinib malate following hepatic artery embolization for metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 2009:272
Hobday TJ, Rubin J, Holen K et al (2007) MC044h, a phase II trial of sorafenib in patients (pts) with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET): A Phase II Consortium (P2C) study. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 25(18S):4504
Anthony L, Chester M, Michael S, O'Dorisio TM, O'Dorisio MS (2008) Phase II open-label clinical trial of vatalanib (PTK/ZK) in patients with progressive neuroendocrine cancer. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 26(20S):14624
Pavel ME, Bartel C, Heuck F et al (2008) Open-label, non-randomized, multicenter phase II study evaluating the angiogenesis inhibitor PTK787/ ZK222584 (PTK/ZK) in patients with advanced neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC). Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 26:14684
Gross DJ, Munter G, Bitan M et al (2006) The role of imatinib mesylate (Glivec) for treatment of patients with malignant endocrine tumors positive for c-kit or PDGF-R. Endocr Relat Cancer 13(2):535–540
Yao JC, Zhang JX, Rashid A et al (2007) Clinical and In vitro Studies of Imatinib in Advanced Carcinoid Tumors. Clin Cancer Res 13(1):234–240
D'Amato RJ, Loughnan MS, Flynn E, Folkman J (1994) Thalidomide is an inhibitor of angiogenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91(9):4082–4085
Varker KA, Campbell J, Shah MH (2008) Phase II study of thalidomide in patients with metastatic carcinoid and islet cell tumors. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 61(4):661–668
Kulke MH, Stuart K, Enzinger PC et al (2006) Phase II study of temozolomide and thalidomide in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors. J Clin Oncol 24(3):401–406
Kulke MH, Bergsland EK, Ryan DP et al (2006) Phase II study of recombinant human endostatin in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors. J Clin Oncol 24(22):3555–3561
Shah T, Hochhauser D, Frow R, Quaglia A, Dhillon AP, Caplin ME (2006) Epidermal growth factor receptor expression and activation in neuroendocrine tumours. J Neuroendocrinol 18(5):355–360
Srivastava A, Alexander J, Lomakin I, Dayal Y (2001) Immunohistochemical expression of transforming growth factor alpha and epidermal growth factor receptor in pancreatic endocrine tumors. Hum Pathol 32(11):1184–1189
Hobday TJ, Holen K, Donehower R et al (2006) A phase II trial of gefitinib in patients (pts) with progressive metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET): A Phase II Consortium (P2C) study. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 24(18S):4043
Aoki M, Blazek E, Vogt PK (2001) A role of the kinase mTOR in cellular transformation induced by the oncoproteins P3k and Akt. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:136–141
Vivanco I, Sawyers CL (2002) The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt pathway in human cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 2:489–501
Guba M, von Breitenbuch P, Steinbauer M et al (2002) Rapamycin inhibits primary and metastatic tumor growth by antiangiogenesis: involvement of vascular endothelial growth factor. Nat Med 8(2):128–135
Kim D, Sarbassov D, Ali S et al (2002) mTOR interacts with raptor to form a nutrient-sensitive complex that signals to the cell growth machinery. Cell 110(2):163–175
Sarbassov D, Guertin D, Ali S, Sabatini D (2005) Phosphorylation and regulation of Akt/PKB by the rictor-mTOR complex. Science 307(5712):1098–1101
Sabatini DM (2006) MTOR and cancer: Insights into a complex relationship. Nat Rev Cancer 6:729–734
Duran I, Kortmansky J, Singh D et al (2007) A phase II clinical and pharmacodynamic study of temsirolimus in advanced neuroendocrine carcinomas. Br J Cancer 95(9):1148–1154
Yao JC, Phan AT, Chang DZ et al (2008) Efficacy of RAD001 (everolimus) and octreotide LAR in advanced low- to intermediate-grade neuroendocrine tumors: results of a phase II study. J Clin Oncol 26(26):4311–4318
Tabernero J, Rojo F, Calvo E et al (2008) Dose- and schedule-dependent inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway with everolimus: a phase I tumor pharmacodynamic study in patients with advanced solid tumors. J Clin Oncol 26(10):1603–1610
Yao JC, Lombard-Bohas C, Baudin E et al (2009) A phase II trial of daily oral RAD001 (everolimus) in patients with metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET) after failure of cytotoxic chemotherapy. ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium 2009:122
Raz I, Rubinger D, Popovtzer M, Grønbaek H, Weiss O, Flyvbjerg A (1998) Octreotide prevents the early increase in renal insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 in streptozotocin diabetic rats. Diabetes 47(6):924–930
Di Cosimo S, Seoane J, Guzman M et al (2005) Combination of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor everolimus (E) with the Insulin like Growth Factor-1-Receptor (IGF-1-R) inhibitor NVP-AEW-541: a mechanistic based anti-tumor strategy. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 23(16S):3112
Yeatman TJ (2004) A renaissance for SRC. Nat Rev Cancer 4(6):470–480
Gaur P, Samuel S, Bose D et al (2009) Blockade of in vivo tumor growth of newly established human midgut carcinoid tumors by Src inhibition. ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium 2009:146
Conflict of interest statement
The authors indicate no potential conflict of interest and no financial interests relating to the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Capdevila, J., Salazar, R. Molecular targeted therapies in the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Targ Oncol 4, 287–296 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-009-0128-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-009-0128-7