Targeting gastrointestinal stromal tumors: the role of regorafenib

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a devastating disease in the metastatic setting, but its natural history has been dramatically altered by the development of small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, most notably imatinib. Although patients with advanced GIST live much longer today than they did in the past, imatinib-refractory disease remains a tremendous problem. For disease that is refractory to imatinib and sunitinib, regorafenib is an excellent option. In this review, we discuss the biology and clinical work establishing regorafenib as the standard of care for advanced GIST refractory to both imatinib and sunitinib.