Molecular Features of Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: A Comparative Analysis with Lung Neuroendocrine Carcinoma and Digestive Adenocarcinomas
Overview
Authors
Affiliations
Objective: There is an ongoing debate about whether the management of gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) should follow the guidelines of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). We aim to identify the genetic differences of GEPNEC and its counterpart.
Methods: We recruited GEPNEC patients as the main cohort, with lung NEC and digestive adenocarcinomas as comparative cohorts. All patients undergone next-generation sequencing (NGS). Different gene alterations were compared and analyzed between GEPNEC and lung NEC (LNEC), GEPNEC and adenocarcinoma to yield the remarkable genes.
Results: We recruited 257 patients, including 99 GEPNEC, 57 LNEC, and 101 digestive adenocarcinomas. Among the mutations, , , , , and were found to have different gene alterations between GEPNEC and LNEC samples. Specific genes for each site were revealed: gastric NEC ( amplification), colorectal NEC ( mutation), and bile tract NEC ( mutation). The gene disparities between small-cell NEC (SCNEC) and large-cell NEC (LCNEC) were and . Digestive adenocarcinoma was also compared with GEPNEC and suggested , , and as significant genes. The / mutation pattern was associated with first-line effectiveness. Putative targetable genes and biomarkers in GEPNEC were identified in 22.2% of the patients, and they had longer progression-free survival (PFS) upon targetable treatment [12.5 months 3.0 months, HR=0.40 (0.21-0.75), P=0.006].
Conclusions: This work demonstrated striking gene distinctions in GEPNEC compared with LNEC and adenocarcinoma and their clinical utility.
Chen Q, Guo Y, Wang Z, Chen X, Tian C, Zheng J Transl Cancer Res. 2024; 13(9):4678-4693.
PMID: 39430841 PMC: 11483443. DOI: 10.21037/tcr-23-2215.