Kinase inhibitors in thyroid cancers

The treatment landscape for thyroid cancers has changed rapidly with the availability of kinase inhibitors against VEGFR, BRAF, MEK, NTRK, and RET. We provide an up-to-date review of the role of kinase inhibitors in thyroid cancer and discuss upcoming trials.

A comprehensive review of the available literature describing kinase inhibitors in thyroid cancer was performed.

Kinase inhibitors have become the standard of care for patients with metastatic radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid cancer. Short-term treatment can re-sensitize differentiated thyroid cancer to radioactive iodine, thereby potentially improving outcomes and sparing toxicities associated with the long-term use of kinase inhibitors. The approval of cabozantinib as salvage therapy for progressive radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer following failure with sorafenib or lenvatinib adds to the available armamentarium of active agents. Vandetanib and cabozantinib have become mainstay treatments for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer regardless of RET mutation status. Selpercatinib and pralsetinib, potent and selective receptor kinase inhibitors with activity against RET, have revolutionized the treatment paradigm for medullary thyroid cancers and other cancers with driver mutations in RET. Dabrafenib plus trametinib for BRAF mutated anaplastic thyroid cancer provides an effective treatment option for this aggressive cancer with a dismal prognosis. In order to design the next generation of agents for thyroid cancer, future efforts will need to focus on developing a better understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to kinase inhibition including bypass signaling and escape mutations.