Precision Medicine Approach to Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: Advances in Targeted Drug Therapy Based on Specific Signaling Pathways

摘要

Personalized medicine is a set of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic approaches in whichmedical interventions are carried out based on individual patient characteristics. As life expectancy increasesin developed and developing countries, the incidence of diseases such as cancer goes up among people in thecommunity. Cancer is a disease that the response to treatment varies from one person to another and also it iscostly for individuals, families, and society. Among thyroid cancers, anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) isthe most aggressive, lethal and unresponsive form of the disease. Unfortunately, current drugs are nottargetable, and therefore they have restricted role in ATC treatment. Consequently, mortality of this cancer,despite advances in the field of diagnosis and treatment, is one of the most important challenges in medicine.Cellular, molecular and genetic evidences play an important role in finding more effective diagnostic andtherapeutic approaches. Review of these evidences confirms the application of personalized medicine incancer treatment including ATC. A growing body of evidence has elucidated that cellular and molecularmechanisms of cancer would pave the way for defining new biomarkers for targeted therapy, taking intoaccount individual differences. It should be noted that this approach requires further progress in the fields ofbasic sciences, pharmacogenetics and drug design. An overview of the most important aspects inindividualized anaplastic thyroid cancer treatment will be discussed in this review.