Neuroendocrine Tumours Research

What we do

At Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London we have established a European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (ENETS) Centre of Excellence (CoE) for treatment of neuroendocrine tumours. The aim of ENETS CoE is to improve clinical management of NET patients, develop clinical trials, provide education, support research, and enhance cooperation in the NET community.
We are intensively working towards personalised treatment of patients with neuroendocrine tumours including identification of novel multidimensional biomarkers, clinical implementation of modern molecular imaging techniques, introduction of targeted treatment options, and multimodal treatment approaches.

Why it is important

Neuroendocrine tumours represent a diverse group of neoplasia that generally arise in the gastro-entero-pancreatic system and lung. Although originally considered rare, improvement in diagnostic strategies has resulted in an apparent increase in incidence. Since their prevalence is high (>35/100,000); they therefore constitute a substantial health economic burden. Outdated perspectives of indolence have been superseded by appreciation for their myriad clinical challenges, such as the high rates of regional and distant metastases at initial diagnosis, lack of clarity on optimal treatment strategies/sequencing, and incompletely elucidated genetic/other pathophysiological drivers.

How it can benefit patients

Neuroendocrine tumours frequently present with distant metastases at the initial diagnosis. Less than 20% of patients with distantly metastatic NET are candidates for surgery with curative intent. Multimodal treatment approach combining surgery with non-surgical systemic or liver-directed treatment modalities have the potential to prolong survival. The clinical utility of standard tumour markers for NET is burdened by limited accuracy and there is an urgent unmet need for novel non-invasive biomarkers for early identification, treatment monitoring, precision diagnostics and phenotyping of NET for the stratification of therapy.

Summary of current research

Our current research in neuroendocrine tumours is focusing on novel “omics”-based biomarkers, early identification of micro-residual disease following surgery, and multimodal treatment of advanced tumours and their liver metastases.