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Emerging Therapies for Radioactive Iodine Refractory Thyroid Cancer

  • Head and Neck Cancer (CP Rodriguez, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

The landscape of treatment options for radioactive iodine refractory thyroid cancer is rapidly changing. While there are no curative options in this setting, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have revolutionized the management of radioiodine refractory disease to help delay progression of metastatic and life-threatening disease. Ongoing development of more selective targeted inhibitors will certainly improve medication tolerability and tumor specificity. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology of radioactive iodine refractory thyroid cancer and examine the definition of radioactive iodine refractory disease and the current systemic therapy options. We then discuss molecularly targeted strategies both approved by the FDA and currently under study in clinical trials. In particular, we examine the data relevant to specific targeted mutations in thyroid cancer. We also discuss novel approaches in development, such as immunotherapy, to the management of radioactive iodine refractory disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Kedar Kirtane MD

  2. Department of Medicine, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA, USA

    Mara Y. Roth MD

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  1. Kedar Kirtane MD
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  2. Mara Y. Roth MD
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Correspondence to Kedar Kirtane MD.

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Kedar S. Kirtane and Mara Y. Roth declare they have no conflict of interest.

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Kirtane, K., Roth, M.Y. Emerging Therapies for Radioactive Iodine Refractory Thyroid Cancer. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 21, 18 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-020-0714-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-020-0714-6

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