With the beautiful mountains of Switzerland and Lake Zurich in the background, 44 GIST Patient representatives from 28 countries and 32 patient groups/organizations convened in Zurich for the New Horizons GIST meeting from May 14-17, 2014.
The 12th Pediatric and Wildtype GIST Clinic was held May 21 to 23, 2014 at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Coordinated by Dr. Sosipatros Boikos, and based out of the NIH Pediatric Oncology Department under the direction of Dr. Lee Helman, the Clinic is collaboration between clinicians and researchers to collect data, investigate and develop treatment for GIST patients who do not have either c-KIT or PDGFRA mutation.
Dr. Sosipatros Boikos, a graduate of University of Crete in Greece, very early and while he was a first year medical student, developed an interest in cancer genetics. After graduating from medical school, he came to the National Institutes of Health as a Visiting Research Fellow to work on the genetics of Wildtype gastrointestinal stromal tumors—those GIST tumors without a KIT or PDGFRA mutation—under the supervision of Dr. Constantine Stratakis, the researcher who identified Carney-Stratakis Syndrome.
Join our Tissue Bank - Help the LRG in the search for a cure. Wildtype GIST tissue is needed for a current LRG Research Team project. If you or a loved one are a wildtype GIST patient, please help the LRG Research Team in its search for the cure by donating your tissue.
The Clinic is a collaboration between clinicians and researchers to collect data, investigate and develop treatment for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor patients who do not have either c-KIT or Platelet -Derived Growth Factor Receptor alpha (PDGFRA) mutations. This includes patients with Carney’s Triad, Carney- Stratakis Dyad, and Wildtype GIST. These tumors frequently stain negatively for a protein called Succinate Dehydrogenase, a condition referred to as being Succinate Dehydrogenasedeficient (SDH-deficient). There are currently three clinical trials in development for this population.
