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Advances in the treatment of thyroid cancer in the era of molecularly targeted therapies Volume 96, issue 1, janvier 2009

Authors
Département de médecine, faculté de médecine Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave-Roussy, 39, rue Camille-Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif cedex, France, Département de médecine nucléaire et d’endocrinologie oncologique, faculté de médecine Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave-Roussy, 39, rue Camille-Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif cedex, France

During last decade, many progresses have been made in the understanding of thyroid cancer molecular biology. This knowledge led to the development of novel targeted therapy in iodine-resistant patients. However, the management of patients remains complex because of the broad spectrum of clinical presentation of thyroid cancers, differences in their natural histories and the lack of data about randomized trials. Angiogenesis inhibitors (sorafenib, motesanib, axitinib and vandetanib) have shown promising activity in differentiated thyroid cancer. Vandetanib, an inhibitor of RET and VEGFR tyrosine-kinases, is promising in medullary thyroid cancers. Preliminary results of these trials are discussed in this review.