Of note, pre-incubation of GISTs with exogenous FGF-2 for 2 weeks prior IM treatment substantially (e.g., 4.6-fold) enhanced GIST viability when compared to the experimental settings shown before—285.2 ± 46.3 and 61.9 ± 2.7 nM, respectively; Figure 5B). Here, FGF2 is linked to gastrointestinal stromal tumor.