[Advanced GIST: Which treatments in 2022?]

Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are rare digestive tumors. Activating KIT mutations are the most common molecular alteration in these patients, identified in approximately 70 % of cases, followed by PDGFRA mutations (10-15 %), of which the D842V mutation accounts for most cases. Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) deficiency and alterations involving NF1, BRAF^V600E, RAS or NTRK genes are rare molecular subgroups. In advanced GIST, treatment is based on tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including imatinib, which has been the standard first-line treatment since the early 2000s, with sunitinib and regorafenib as second- and third-line standards, respectively. Two new compounds have recently been evaluated in patients with advanced GIST. Ripretinib has become the validated fourth-line therapy for patients with KIT or PDGFRA non-D842V mutations, and avapritinib has been shown to be effective in patients with D842V mutations who were previously resistant to validated treatments. Avapritinib is now the recommended first-line treatment in this subgroup and may represent an additional option, whose place remains to be clarified, in pre-treated patients without D842V mutations. Specific treatments are available or under evaluation for some rare subgroups, and new therapeutic strategies are likely to further improve the management of advanced GIST in the coming years. This overview summarizes the results of recent trials and the place of these new molecules, as well as the main strategies under development for advanced GIST.

Keywords: Advanced GIST; Avapritinib; D842V; GIST avancée; KIT; PDGFRA; Ripretinib.