Glivec Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Glivec, including details on gleevec, imatinib, cancer, treatment, side-effects.

Clinical and in vitro studies of imatinib in advanced carcinoid tumors.

Yao JC, Zhang JX, Rashid A, Yeung SC, Szklaruk J, Hess K, Xie K, Ellis L, Abbruzzese JL, Ajani JA

Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. jyao@mdanderson.org

PURPOSE: Effective systemic therapy options for carcinoid tumors are lacking. We conducted in vitro studies and a phase II clinical trial to explore the activity of imatinib in carcinoid tumors. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Cells of the human bronchial carcinoid cell line NCI-H727 and the human pancreatic carcinoid cell line BON-1 were treated with increasing concentrations of imatinib using standard procedures to assess in vitro growth-inhibitory activity. A clinical trial using a two-stage phase II design to assess the response rate and safety profile of imatinib at a dose of 400 mg given twice daily in patients with advanced carcinoid tumors was completed. RESULTS: In both cell lines, there was a dose- and time-dependent cytotoxic effect. The clinical trial enrolled 27 evaluable patients. Median duration on trial was 16 weeks. One patient had a partial response, 17 had stable disease, and 9 had progressive disease by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors criteria. Median progression-free survival time was 24 weeks. Median overall survival is 36 months. Seven patients who achieved a biochemical response had a superior progression-free survival time compared with patients without biochemical response (115 weeks compared with 24 weeks; P = 0.003). An increase in plasma basic fibroblast growth factor was associated with a shorter progression-free survival duration (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that imatinib is active in vitro and has a modest clinical activity in carcinoid patients. Changes in tumor markers may help select patients who are likely to benefit from therapy.

Published 3 January 2007 in Clin Cancer Res, 13(1): 234-40.
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