New treatment modalities in advanced thyroid cancer

Abstract

The developments in the treatment of advanced thyroid cancer are intriguing. Future trials should aim at combinations of targeted agents with or without other treatment modalities, and will hopefully contribute to further improvement of outcomes.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor Signaling in Thyroid Cancers: Clinical Implications and Therapeutic Potential

“…Some of the strategies being used to interfere with IGF-1R signaling (a) reduction of IGF-1R expression by antisense nucleotides (b) siRNA or antisense RNA against IGF-IR (c) monoclonal antibodies and (d) tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Altogether, 30 different IGF-1R targeting agents are in preclinical or clinical development [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] (Table 3) and at least 58 active clinical trials are evaluating anti-IGF-1R targeting agents alone or in various combinations (www.clinicaltrials.gov). However, the two main strategies employed to inhibit this pathway are antibodies directed against IGF-1R or small molecule TKIs.…”

Thyroid Cancer: The Evolution of Treatment Options

“…Though conventional chemotherapy is not effective for differentiated thyroid cancer, tyrosine kinase inhibitors hold some promise. This new class of drugs is being tested, with encouraging results, on radioiodine refractory cases 52) , medullary carcinoma 53) and anaplastic carcinoma 54) . Combination therapy in the future may produce even better results.…”

Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis of Medullary Thyroid Cancer

“…In patients with non-metastatic MTC, survival rates amount about 78-100% at 5-year and 75% at 10-year, respectively. Survival rates strongly decrease in case of metastatic disease and amount about 24% at 5-year and 10% at 10-year respectively (Kapiteijn et al, 2011). …”

“…For patients with MTC unresponsive to conventional treatments, novel therapies are needed to improve disease outcomes. As a result of the increasing knowledge on the biological basis of MTC, therapeutic agents that target specific molecular pathways have been developed (Kapiteijn et al, 2011). Multiple novel therapies primarily targeting angiogenesis have entered clinical trials for metastatic thyroid carcinoma (including MTC).…”

“…The most successful agents are those targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs) (Sherman, 2011). Monotarget kinase inhibitors and multikinase inhibitors could represent the best therapeutic option to manage patients with advanced MTC (Kapiteijn et al, 2011).…”