DR-036 The landscape of somatic genetic aberrations in metastases of neuroendocrine tumors

“Neuroendocrine tumors are rare cancers most often arising in the lungs, pancreas or gastro-intestinal tract. Its behavior can vary greatly among patients, from very slowly growing tumors that can be kept under control with a relatively low-impact treatment, to very aggressive tumors that quickly progress despite intensive (chemotherapeutic) treatment. Currently, we cannot optimally select the right treatment for the right patient, possibly because the characteristics we are using to select this treatment are not based on the genetic make-up of the tumor.
A minimally-invasive method to determine which patient will benefit from a certain treatment, is by taking so-called liquid biopsies. In liquid biopsies we look at tumor-specific genetic variations in the blood of our patients. Thus far, the implementation of liquid biopsies in neuroendocrine tumors have been hampered by the lack of a known genetic variation which occurs in the majority of our patients and is thus a suitable liquid biopsy marker.
In this project, we want to explore the genetic charactertistics of metastases of neuroendocrine tumors and use these data to develop a liquid biopsy test by which we can better determine who will benefit from a certain treatment, and who should be spared unnecessary toxicity.”

Bianca Mostert Erasmus MC the Netherlands