Chapter 6

The Emerging Role of Sunitinib in the Treatment of Advanced Epithelial Thyroid Cancer

Giuseppe Pasqualetti, Sergio Ricci, Valeria Calsolaro, Sara Tognini, Antonio Polini and Fabio Monzani

Abstract

Tyrosine kinase receptors have been shown to play an important role in epithelial thyroid tumor growth and angiogenesis. Thyroid cancers commonly present oncogene mutations involved in MAPK kinase pathway like BRAF and RET; they are also frequently dependent from VEGF stimuli. Preliminary clinical experiences suggest a promising role of sunitinib (a tyrosine kinase inhibitor) for the treatment of advanced thyroid cancers. This chapter deals with the available data on the effect of sunitinib in the treatment of metastatic, radioiodine refractory thyroid cancers.

Total Pages: 144-155 (12)

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