Int J Thyroidol.  2022 Nov;15(2):131-134. 10.11106/ijt.2022.15.2.131.

Effect of Afatinib for Lung Cancer on Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Affiliations
  • 1Yonsei University College of Medicine, Thyroid Cancer Center, Seoul, Korea
  • 2Department of Surgery, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Institute of Refractory Thyroid Cancer, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common type of thyroid cancer, for which surgery following preoperative staging and risk assessment is the standard treatment. Afatinib is an orally active irreversible ErbB-family inhibitor that binds to the kinase domain of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs), HER2, and HER4, and has been approved as monotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with activated EGFR mutations. Recently, we observed an unexpected effect of afatinib administered to treat lung cancer on untreated papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Keyword

Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Afatinib; EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor; Lung cancer

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Neck US showing an infiltrative enhancing lesion in the right thyroid gland (A, B), a suspicious meta-static lateral neck lymph node (C, D), and PET-CT demonstrating that right thyroid gland and lung lesion show a strong FDG uptake (E-G).

  • Fig. 2 Neck US showing atrophic changes in the right thyroid gland and decreased size of the right thyroid cancer lesion compared to that of the previous US lesion.

  • Fig. 3 Neck US showing enlargement of the right thyroid cancer lesion (0.9 cm) compared to that of the previous US lesion.


Reference

References

1. Korea Central Cancer Registry. Annual report of cancer statistics in Korea in 2019. 2021; 2021:66.
2. Haugen BR, Alexander EK, Bible KC, Doherty GM, Mandel SJ, Nikiforov YE, et al. 2016; 2015 American Thyroid Association management guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer: the American Thyroid Association guidelines task force on thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid. 26(1):1–133. DOI: 10.1089/thy.2015.0020. PMID: 26462967. PMCID: PMC4739132.
Article
3. Wind S, Schnell D, Ebner T, Freiwald M, Stopfer P. 2017; Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of afatinib. Clin Pharmacokinet. 56(3):235–50. DOI: 10.1007/s40262-016-0440-1. PMID: 27470518. PMCID: PMC5315738.
Article
4. Keating GM. 2014; Afatinib: a review of its use in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Drugs. 74(2):207–21. DOI: 10.1007/s40265-013-0170-8. PMID: 24435321.
Article
5. Fallahi P, Mazzi V, Vita R, Ferrari SM, Materazzi G, Galleri D, et al. 2015; New therapies for dedifferentiated papillary thyroid cancer. Int J Mol Sci. 16(3):6153–82. DOI: 10.3390/ijms16036153. PMID: 25789503. PMCID: PMC4394525.
Article
6. Zhang H, Gao B, Shi B. 2016; Identification of differentially expressed kinase and screening potential anticancer drugs in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Dis Markers. 2016:2832980. DOI: 10.1155/2016/2832980. PMID: 27703281. PMCID: PMC5040815.
Article
7. Dai Y-J, Qiu Y-B, Jiang R, Xu M, Zhao L, Chen GG, et al. 2017; Concomitant high expression of ERα36, EGFR and HER2 is associated with aggressive behaviors of papillary thyroid carcinomas. Sci Rep. 7(1):12279. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12478-1. PMID: 28947799. PMCID: PMC5612999.
Article
8. Tang C, Yang L, Wang N, Li L, Xu M, Chen GG, et al. 2014; High expression of GPER1, EGFR and CXCR1 is associated with lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 7(6):3213–23.
Full Text Links
  • IJT
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr