According to our results, MGMT methylation status, evaluated with methylation specific-polymerase chain reaction or pyrosequencing, should have an important role in patients with metastatic NENs, in order to guide therapeutic options. These results need further confirmation with prospective studies.
Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas (GEP-NEC) are a very aggressive type of cancer, for which prognostic factors are lacking. We analysed clinical and histomorphological prognostic markers of overall survival (OS), completed with a record of biological and haematological data of patients diagnosed between December 2002 and December 2015. The median OS was 16 months (95% CI 13.9–18.1). After univariate analysis, performance status (PS) ≥ 2 and stage IV were associated with a worse outcome (9 months and 14 months, respectively), as well as patients with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels ≥ 2 ULN (9 months and 8 months, respectively). After multivariate analysis, LDH and AST levels were the only factors that remained significantly associated with better survival: HR 0.36 (p = 0.04) and 0.31 (p = 0.03), respectively. When patients had elevated LDH and AST levels, OS was 20 months, when they had high LDH or AST levels, 13 months and 8 months in the group with low LDH and AST levels (p < 0.001). Therefore, biological data appeared to be more relevant prognostic factors than usual factors described in other studies (PS, stage, and Ki-67). Considering LDH and AST levels at diagnosis could help physicians to predict survival and to stratify patients for clinical trials.
The choice of first-line treatment for metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (mP-NET) is mainly based on prognostic factors. ENETS-2016 guidelines stratified treatment according to 3 groups: Group 1, patients in whom all lesions could be removed; Group 2, patients with Ki67 <10%, low tumor burden, no symptoms and stable disease, for whom a watch-and-wait strategy or somatostatin analogs are proposed; Group 3, symptomatic patients or with Ki67 >10% or significant tumor burden or progressive disease, for whom a systemic chemotherapy is proposed. This retrospective study aimed to determine patient distribution, characteristics and outcome among these 3 groups. Patients with mP-NET diagnosis from 2004 to 2016 were categorized into the three groups. Prognosis was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. All treatments were recorded, and consistency with ENETS guidelines was explored. 104 patients were analyzed: 64% synchronous mP-NET, 80% grade 2 tumors and median overall survival (OS) of 104 (95% CI: 65-143) months. There were 15 patients in ENETS Group 1, 16 in Group 2 and 73 in Group 3. Median OS was not reached in Groups 1 and 2 and was 64 months (35-93) in Group 3. High liver tumor volume, high-grade tumor and progressive disease were associated with worse OS in multivariate analysis. The first-line treatment was in accordance with guidelines in 82%. 77% percent of deceased patients received less than 4 lines of treatment. Most patients are in Group 3 and do not receive all available treatments. Thus, trials are warranted to improve first-line chemotherapy. Alternative treatments may be considered for less aggressive disease.
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