Oncocytic, focally anaplastic, thyroid cancer responding to erlotinib

Abstract

Erlotinib or other novel protein kinase pathway inhibitors should be evaluated further in patients with aggressive thyroid cancer variants, who may exhibit these and perhaps other tyrosine kinase mutations.

Does the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Play a Role in the Progression of Thyroid Cancer?

“…Of note, these patients were not screened for mutations in EGFR, which predict sensitivity to EGFR kinase inhibitors in lung and colorectal cancers, or mutations in BRAF and RAF, which predict resistance (28)(29)(30)(31). There have been three case reports describing a clinical response to EGFR-targeted therapies in patients with thyroid cancers positive for an EGFR mutation (32)(33)(34). However, the frequency of activating EGFR mutations in thyroid cancer is very low.…”

Spanish consensus for the management of patients with anaplastic cell thyroid carcinoma

“…The regimen is well tolerated, with adverse effects and deaths primarily related to ATC and disease progression. 40 Case reports have been published of maintained responses to chemotherapy regimens such as cisplatin and doxorubicin associated with radiotherapy, peplomycin, and granulocyte colony stimulating growth factor 42 or with valproic acid, 43 docetaxel and gefitinib, 44 erlotinib in a patient with an important expression of epidermal growth factor receptor 45 and vemurafenib in patients with BRAF V600E mutation. 46 Also the case of a patient treated with everolimus was published and he maintained a response of the ATC during 18 months and whole-exome sequencing revealed a nonsense mutation in TSC2, a negative regulator of mTOR, suggesting a mechanism for sensitivity to everolimus.…”

Update on External Beam Radiation Therapy in Thyroid Cancer

“…There is increasing evidence of a possible role for targeted therapies in DTC; however, most of this comes from DTC and MTC (9), with few reports in ATC (10,11). In other tumor sites, EBRT has been combined with newer biological agents such as sorafenib with some suggestion of success (12).…”