Targeted drug trial aims to slow advanced cancers by blocking a faulty gene signal

This study is testing whether the drug sunitinib can help control advanced cancers that have a specific mutation in a gene called cKIT. The drug works by blocking the faulty signal from this mutated gene that tells cancer cells to grow. It is for a small group of patients (about 10) whose cancers have not responded to other treatments and have this specific genetic change, excluding certain cancer types like kidney cancer. The main goal is to see if patients' tumors shrink or stop growing.