Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common mesenchymal tumor of the gastrointestinal tract. It arises in the stomach, small intestine, colon, rectum and esophagus. KIT gene mutation is a feature of GIST, in addition to PDGFRA gene mutation. KIT gene mutations have been observed to be involved in the development of GIST, its recurrence after surgery and chemotherapy resistance in GIST. Exons 13, 17, 9, and mainly exon 11 are concerned in these biological behaviors of GIST. In this review, we will discuss on the involvement of KIT gene mutations in the tumorigenesis, recurrence and chemotherapeutic resistance of GIST.