On Friday May 7th, the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation hosted a Neuroendocrine Research Symposium sponsored by the VERTO Institute. The Symposium featured all of our funded scientists and was a forum where they could exchange ideas and discuss progress to a cure.
There was lively discussion throughout the day among attendees with broad expertise ranging from clinical drug development to genomics, and proteomics to basic science. Attendees joined from the United States, Canada, and Europe. There were many familiar faces in the room, and, as the field continues to expand, seeing all of the new faces was heartening. However, as many of you are very familiar, patients still face a relatively unknown disease for which there is no cure.
The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and others continue to strive to change this reality for patients by funding breakthrough scientific research and by organizing meetings such as this one to facilitate collaboration. For me, one of the most exciting aspects of the meeting was the sharing of new, unpublished data and insights within the group of scientists. By sharing information like this, scientists are helping accelerate progress within the field.
A brief recap of the program:
- There were projects focusing on resource development, such as animal models and cell lines.
- There were projects focusing on understanding the genetic events driving neuroendocrine tumors, called genome sequencing projects.
- There were projects focusing on understanding genes and proteins expressed in neuroendocrine tumor cells that are not planned for in the DNA, called epigenetic projects.
These are all areas that the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation has been focused on developing since creation of our Research Road Map in 2005. A modified agenda from the Symposium can be viewed here. Please note there are some gaps in the program, since the early stage and unpublished science will not be posted publicly.
George Fisher, from Stanford Cancer Center and co-chair of the CFCF Scientific Advisory Board, started off the meeting describing emerging therapies for neuroendocrine tumors and the increasing number of clinical trial options for patients. Much of Dr. Fisher’s presentation is available here. Dr. Fisher describes emerging therapies for both carcinoid cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: somatostatin analogs as anti-proliferative agents, angiogenesis inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, cytotoxic therapy as well as other targeted agents. Among other things in his talk, Dr. Fisher described the rationale behind angiogenesis inhibitors. Dr. Fisher provided references for those interested in seeing the details of randomized trials in both carcinoid cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
The audience was able to see the progress being made in advancing agents such as sunitinib, sorafenib, and everolimus to phase III clinical trials. In addition, there are many drugs ongoing phase II trials with combinations of different therapies acting on different targets or pathways. These trials promise to improve tumor control as well as reduce side effects and toxicities. The large numbers of recently clinical trials, both existing and proposed, is a direct result of neuroendocrine tumor patients’ willingness to participate in the scientific advancement of the field. This is one way that patients have become active participants in advancing care and ultimately a cure. With many other types of cancers, delays in clinical trial accrual can be a problem or even impediment to progress.
With so many engaged patients, increasing pharmaceutical interest, and increasing numbers of institutions with active interest in caring for neuroendocrine tumor patients, this is a hopeful time for patients. Multiple projects are proceeding with the goal of uncovering the genetic underpinnings of BOTH carcinoid cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Multiple projects are examining what is functionally going on inside tumor cells both in terms of protein expression and methylation studies. Multiple investigators are working to establish cell lines and animal models. Progress in any area can inform and capitulate progress in the others.
There was lively discussion throughout the day among attendees with broad expertise ranging from clinical drug development to genomics, and proteomics to basic science. Attendees joined from the United States, Canada, and Europe. There were many familiar faces in the room, and, as the field continues to expand, seeing all of the new faces was heartening. However, as many of you are very familiar, patients still face a relatively unknown disease for which there is no cure.
The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and others continue to strive to change this reality for patients by funding breakthrough scientific research and by organizing meetings such as this one to facilitate collaboration. For me, one of the most exciting aspects of the meeting was the sharing of new, unpublished data and insights within the group of scientists. By sharing information like this, scientists are helping accelerate progress within the field.
A brief recap of the program:
- There were projects focusing on resource development, such as animal models and cell lines.
- There were projects focusing on understanding the genetic events driving neuroendocrine tumors, called genome sequencing projects.
- There were projects focusing on understanding genes and proteins expressed in neuroendocrine tumor cells that are not planned for in the DNA, called epigenetic projects.
These are all areas that the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation has been focused on developing since creation of our Research Road Map in 2005. A modified agenda from the Symposium can be viewed here. Please note there are some gaps in the program, since the early stage and unpublished science will not be posted publicly.
George Fisher, from Stanford Cancer Center and co-chair of the CFCF Scientific Advisory Board, started off the meeting describing emerging therapies for neuroendocrine tumors and the increasing number of clinical trial options for patients. Much of Dr. Fisher’s presentation is available here. Dr. Fisher describes emerging therapies for both carcinoid cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: somatostatin analogs as anti-proliferative agents, angiogenesis inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, cytotoxic therapy as well as other targeted agents. Among other things in his talk, Dr. Fisher described the rationale behind angiogenesis inhibitors. Dr. Fisher provided references for those interested in seeing the details of randomized trials in both carcinoid cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
The audience was able to see the progress being made in advancing agents such as sunitinib, sorafenib, and everolimus to phase III clinical trials. In addition, there are many drugs ongoing phase II trials with combinations of different therapies acting on different targets or pathways. These trials promise to improve tumor control as well as reduce side effects and toxicities. The large numbers of recently clinical trials, both existing and proposed, is a direct result of neuroendocrine tumor patients’ willingness to participate in the scientific advancement of the field. This is one way that patients have become active participants in advancing care and ultimately a cure. With many other types of cancers, delays in clinical trial accrual can be a problem or even impediment to progress.
With so many engaged patients, increasing pharmaceutical interest, and increasing numbers of institutions with active interest in caring for neuroendocrine tumor patients, this is a hopeful time for patients. Multiple projects are proceeding with the goal of uncovering the genetic underpinnings of BOTH carcinoid cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Multiple projects are examining what is functionally going on inside tumor cells both in terms of protein expression and methylation studies. Multiple investigators are working to establish cell lines and animal models. Progress in any area can inform and capitulate progress in the others.
