Objective To summarize functions and mechanisms of fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and its application in targeted therapy. Method Literatures about FAP in recent years were collected to make a review. Results Thereis an important relationship between the FAP and the dipeptidyl peptidase-Ⅳ. FAP has a serine protease activity and is an important immunosuppressive component in the tumor microenvironment. FAP participate in the pathological process of the neoplastic and the non-neoplastic diseases. In the targeted therapy, the enzyme inhibitors, antibodies, vaccines, and prodrugs of FAP had been extensively studied. Conclusion FAP have various functions and participates in pathological process of many diseases, and it is of great significance to research of tumor targeted therapy.
Objective To describe pharmacokinetic of imatinib in a cohort of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients in routine clinical care from West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Methods The imatinib trough concentration (Cmin) in 42 patients with GIST who were taking imatinib in routine clinical care setting in West China Hospital from 2010 to 2016 was measured. The clinical features and follow-up data were collected. Results The mean imatinib Cmin in 42 patients was 1 757 μg/L (199–7 435 μg/L), 10 of 42 patients presented with Cmin values was lower than 1 000 μg/L. The imatinib Cmin of 18 patients received an imatinib dose of 300 mg/d or 24 patients treated with 400 mg/d imatinib was (1 313±479) μg/L and (1 775±1 520) μg/L, respectively (P=0.222), but the rate of low Cmin (lower than 1 000 μg/L) in the two different dose groups had no significant difference (P=0.347). In Cox regression, no statistically significant association between the low Cmin and the time to progression of GIST could be demonstrated 〔HR=0.171, 95%CI：(0.106, 12.990),P=0.898〕. Conclusion The preliminary results of limited cases in this study show that some GIST patients are systematically underexposed in routine clinical care, an individualized treatment based on monitoring of imatinib Cmin is likely to be more efficient than a fixed-dose treatment.