A Case of Unresectable Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Treated with Lenvatinib as Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Neoadjuvant therapy to improve resectability of advanced thyroid cancer: A real-world experience

BACKGROUND

Experience with targeted neoadjuvant treatment for locoregionally advanced thyroid cancer is nascent.

METHODS

Multicenter retrospective case series examining targeted neoadjuvant treatment for locoregionally advanced thyroid cancer. The primary outcome was change in surgical morbidity as measured by two metrics developed for use in clinical trials to characterize surgical complexity and morbidity. Secondary outcomes included percentage of patients proceeding to surgery and percentage receiving an R0/R1 resection.

RESULTS

Seventeen patients with varied molecular alterations, pathologies, and treatment regimens were included. Mean surgical complexity scores decreased between time points for baseline and postneoadjuvant treatment, postneoadjuvant treatment and surgery, and between baseline and surgery. Eleven patients (64.7%) underwent surgical resection, with 10 (58.8%) receiving an R0/R1 resection.

CONCLUSIONS

Neoadjuvant treatment of advanced thyroid cancer improves resectability and decreases the morbidity of required surgical procedures. However, treatment is not uniformly effective.

Conversion surgery after lenvatinib treatment for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: a case report

BACKGROUND

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is the most aggressive form of thyroid carcinoma. Lenvatinib, a multikinase inhibitor, is rarely used in preoperative settings due to adverse effects including delayed wound healing and fistula formation. Herein, we report the use of lenvatinib treatment prior to conversion surgery for the treatment of ATC.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 71-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with suspected thyroid cancer with recurrent laryngeal nerve invasion and cervical lymph node metastasis based on the results of ultrasonography. Computed tomography demonstrated the presence of a thyroid tumor invading the trachea and esophagus with no evidence of distant metastasis. Fine needle aspiration of the left cervical lymph node indicated the lymph node metastasis of ATC. As the tumor had widely invaded the trachea and esophagus, unresectable ATC was diagnosed and treatment with lenvatinib was initiated at a dose of 24 mg/day. On day 13 of lenvatinib treatment, the primary tumor and lymph node metastases demonstrated a partial response to therapy. As the tumor was now considered resectable, the decision was made to perform conversion surgery. Total thyroidectomy and left lateral neck node dissection were performed 7 days after the withdrawal of lenvatinib. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 5 with no complications. Histopathological examination demonstrated that the tumor contained the component of papillary thyroid carcinoma, squamoid ATC cells, and granulation tissue. In areas of granulation tissue, atypical cells with spindle-shaped or polygonal morphology, pyknotic nuclei, and scant cytoplasm were observed. Immunohistochemically, these cells were positive for cytokeratin AE1/AE3, TTF-1, and p53 and negative for thyroglobulin and PAX8. Therefore, the areas of granulation tissue observed within tumor samples were also considered ATC that were affected by lenvatinib treatment. In total, approximately 50% of resected tumor comprised ATC, and 70% of them had been changed to granulation tissue.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings in the present case indicate that lenvatinib may have significant antitumor effects in preoperative settings. Lenvatinib may represent a promising candidate therapy for unresectable ATC by increasing tumor resectability.

Lenvatinib for the treatment of radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer: treatment optimization for maximum clinical benefit

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PSG7 indicates that age at diagnosis is associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma: A study based on the cancer genome atlas data

The age of the patients at diagnosis (age at diagnosis) is a self-contained element of danger for the prognosis of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), which has been well recognized and continuously adopted by the international cancer staging system. However, few studies have investigated its intrinsic mechanisms. In this study, we aim to comprehensively reveal the age-related pathogenesis of PTC and identify potential prognostic biomarkers. We divided the samples into two groups, young and elderly, to filter differentially expressed genes in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), with an age of 55 years serving as a cutoff. Moreover, we combined univariate, LASSO, and multivariate Cox regression analyses to construct age-related signatures for predicting progression-free survival. Additionally, functional enrichment analysis, immune infiltration analysis, differential expression analysis, clinicopathological correlation analysis, and drug sensitivity analysis were performed in different risk subgroups and expression subgroups. We screened 88 upregulated genes and 58 downregulated genes. Both the LASSO regression model that is validated in TCGA and the model of six age-related prognostic genes (IGF2BP1, GPRC6A, IL37, CRCT1, SEMG1, and PSG7) can be used to evaluate the progression-free survival of PTC patients. The GO, KEGG, and GSEA analyses revealed that each key gene was closely associated with PTC development. Furthermore, CD8⁺ T cells decreased significantly, while regulatory T cells increased dramatically in the high-risk and PSG7 high expression groups. PSG7 was remarkably correlated with clinicopathological parameters (pathologic stage, T stage, and N stage) of PTC patients, and PSG7 expression was elevated in tumor samples from both TCGA and the Gene Expression Omnibus and was strongly associated with progressive stage and poor prognosis. Our results provide an innovative understanding of the age-related molecular mechanisms of PTC development. PSG7 was identified to exert a critical role in PTC progression and may serve as a promising strategy for predicting the prognosis of PTC.

Towards an era of precise diagnosis and treatment: Role of novel molecular modification-based imaging and therapy for dedifferentiated thyroid cancer

Dedifferentiated thyroid cancer is the major cause of mortality in thyroid cancer and is difficult to treat. Hence, the essential molecular mechanisms involved in dedifferentiation should be thoroughly investigated. Several studies have explored the biomolecular modifications of dedifferentiated thyroid cancer such as DNA methylation, protein phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, and glycosylation and the new targets for radiological imaging and therapy in recent years. Novel radionuclide tracers and drugs have shown attractive potential in the early diagnosis and treatment of dedifferentiated thyroid cancer. We summarized the updated molecular mechanisms of dedifferentiation combined with early detection by molecular modification-based imaging to provide more accurate diagnosis and novel therapeutics in the management of dedifferentiated thyroid cancer.

Invasive procedures in patients undergoing treatment with lenvatinib for thyroid cancer

Lenvatinib is a multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits angiogenesis and is currently in use for the treatment of refractory thyroid cancer. Therapy using this agent can be prolonged in patients, although serious complications may ensue among those who require surgical procedures. To the best of our knowledge, the safety of invasive surgical procedures in patients undergoing treatment with lenvatinib has not been fully evaluated. A total of 94 patients were treated with lenvatinib for thyroid cancer between June 2015 and August 2019 at the Kanagawa Cancer Center. Of this cohort, 14 invasive procedures were performed on 11 patients. A total of 8 of these procedures were performed under local anesthesia and 6 under general anesthesia; 3 belonging to the latter group were emergency procedures. No primary wound complications were observed among the patients in the cohort; however, one case of delayed healing secondary to placement of a thoracic drain for acute pneumothorax was reported in the present study. Lenvatinib was initially discontinued in this patient, but it was reintroduced 17 days later due to hypoxemia that may have been related to lung metastases. Hypoxemia improved, although wound healing spanned 14 weeks. Therapy was discontinued prior to percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in a patient with local progression; while no wound complications were observed, the patient ultimately died from exacerbation of neoplastic disease. In the current study, which focused on surgical interventions performed on patients undergoing lenvatinib treatment, 1 in 14 wound complications improved conservatively. However, it is critical to recognize that disease progression may occur if drugs are withdrawn prior to performing invasive procedures.