A study recently published in the journal ESMO Open has documented new biomarkers which may be able to predict efficacy outcomes of antiangiogenic therapies (such as surufatinib) in patients diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). This is an incredible finding because prior to this investigation, no biomarkers had ever been documented which could predict anti-tumor efficacy of the surufatinib therapy.

The Study

This study was conducted in Beijing, China, led by Y. Cheng and J. Li.

The investigation included 242 patients who were diagnosed with an advanced NET and treated with surufatinib. All patients were in the SANET-p and SANET-ep Phase 3 trials. Cheng, Li, and their team evaluated treatment-related adverse events during the first 4 weeks of the treatment. The primary outcome of this trial was progression-free survival.

Some of the most notable findings are as follows:

• 68% of all patients experienced proteinuria, hypertension, and hemorrhage at least once during the first 4 weeks of their treatment.
• Treatment-related adverse events during the first 4 weeks of treatment were associated with a prolonged progression-free survival.
  • This supports the effectiveness of surufatinib treatment for NETs.
• A blind review committee confirmed the results.

Most importantly, this study found that hemorrhage, proteinuria, and hypertension can be used as possible biomarkers for predicting anti-tumor efficacy of the surufatinib treatment. This means that these treatment-related adverse events may be able to predict which patients will have the best outcomes with surufatinib therapy.

More investigations are necessary to continue to confirm these findings, but you can read more about this investigation here.