In recent years, new therapies have been approved to treat gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, or GEP-NETs. These are tumors that form in the gastrointestinal tract and release hormones.
“We’ve developed multiple therapies over the last two decades which are well tolerated and very effective,” says Kimberly Perez, MD, Medical Oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
For example, the FDA approved peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) in 2018, which is a type of radioligand therapy.
What is radioligand therapy?
Radioligand therapy, explains Perez, is an intravenous treatment that targets specific receptors on the cells of GEP-NETs tumors with a radioactive material. First, the material attaches to the tumor cell’s receptors, called somatostatin receptors. Then it releases the radioactive material directly to the tumor cells in order to kill it.
Because PRRT only targets these specific cells, it often has fewer side effects than something like chemotherapy. It is given through an IV in a special hospital suite for radioactive medicine.
How is radioligand therapy different from chemotherapy?
Radioligand therapy is different from chemotherapy, a more traditional cancer treatment that targets rapidly-dividing cells to stop them from growing. Because some GEP-NETs cells actually grow very slowly, chemotherapy isn’t always a good treatment.
Chemotherapy “tends to be much more effective when my cancer is more active or faster-growing,” says Perez.
Chemotherapy is not very targeted. Many other cells in the body divide rapidly, including blood cells or cells in the hair, mouth, or digestive tract. As a result, chemo can have side effects like hair loss, nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, and anemia, among others.
Most people think of getting chemotherapy through an IV at a clinic, but you can also receive some chemo medications by taking a pill.
While treatment outcomes and side effects for GEP-NETs tumors can vary, Perez says that radioligand therapy is particularly effective for this type of cancer.
“It’s just easier to tolerate, easier to manage, than the side effects associated with chemotherapy or targeted therapy,” she says.
Kimberly Perez, MD, is a Medical Oncologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA.
References
American Cancer Society. (2020). Chemotherapy side effects.
Cives, M., et al. (2018). Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (2018). FDA approves new treatment for certain digestive tract cancers.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (2022). LUTATHERA [package insert].
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