Extended cycle streptozotocin/5-FU chemotherapy for maintenance therapy in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Purpose: The standard of care treatment for patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET) is a combination of streptozotocin and 5-FU. Although widely used, little is known about the best long-term strategy with these substances.

Methods: We here report our experience of 28 patients treated with streptozotocin/5-FU for advanced pNET with special consideration for long-term management using an extended cycle protocol.

Impaired gastric acidification negatively affects calcium homeostasis and bone mass.

Activation of osteoclasts and their acidification-dependent resorption of bone is thought to maintain proper serum calcium levels. Here we show that osteoclast dysfunction alone does not generally affect calcium homeostasis. Indeed, mice deficient in Src, encoding a tyrosine kinase critical for osteoclast activity, show signs of osteopetrosis, but without hypocalcemia or defects in bone mineralization.