Recurrent thyroid cancer: a molecular-based therapeutic breakthrough

Thyroid cancer is a group of heterogeneous rare malignancies, with an increasing incidence. Management of recurrent thyroid cancer not amenable to local therapy such as surgery, radiotherapy or radio-iodine ablation remains very challenging. Indeed, chemotherapy allows a very limited impact on the outcomes of this cancer.

During the last decade, huge progress has been made for a better comprehension of carcinogenesis and development of new drugs targeting molecular signalling and cancer cell biology, including angiogenesis process. Several agents have been tested in all subgroups of thyroid cancers, leading to promising results in terms of disease stabilization and response, and recently, with an improvement of progression-free survival.

Molecular-targeted therapies, in particular multitargeted kinase inhibitors, entered into phase III randomized clinical trials, confirming their great interest for clinical practice.