KIT and PDGFRA Variants and the Survival of Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Treated with Adjuvant Imatinib

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common type of sarcoma that arises from the gastrointestinal tract, most frequently from the stomach. The malignancy potential of GISTs varies greatly; some are aggressive cancers. Most localized GISTs are cured with surgery. Recent results show that adjuvant imatinib substantially improves the recurrence-free survival and overall survival of GIST patients who have a high risk for recurrence after surgery if GIST harbors an imatinib-sensitive mutation in KIT or PDGFRA and adjuvant imatinib is administered long enough after surgery, currently for 3 years. ABSTRACT: Adjuvant imatinib improves the recurrence-free survival and overall survival (OS) of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) who have a high risk of recurrence after surgery and is now considered standard treatment. Yet, OS benefit has been demonstrated in only one randomized study, the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group XVIII/AIO trial, where patients with high-risk GISTs were allocated to either 1 year or 3 years of adjuvant imatinib. SSGXVIII/AIO is also the only randomized trial in which adjuvant imatinib duration exceeding 2 years was evaluated. In this trial, the 3-year treatment led to a 45% reduction in the risk of death during the first 10 years that followed random allocation even though some of the patients did not have GISTs at tumor histology review, had mutations now known to be imatinib-resistant or had non-localized disease at study entry. In the subgroup of patients who had KIT exon 11 deletion/indel mutation, the reduction in the risk of death was 66% in favor of the longer treatment. Proper patient selection is of crucial importance since many patients are cured with surgery. Little evidence for OS benefit is available from randomized trials for patients whose GIST harbors KIT exon 9 mutation, KIT insertion mutation, PDGFRA D842V mutation, or lacks KIT and PDGFRA mutations. Adjuvant imatinib improves OS substantially if high-risk GISTs can be identified, treatment duration is long enough, and GISTs harbor an imatinib-sensitive mutation.