Anaplastic thyroid cancer, tumorigenesis and therapy.

BACKGROUND

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a fatal endocrine malignancy. Current therapy fails to significantly improve survival. Recent insights into thyroid tumorigenesis, post-malignant dedifferentiation and mode of metastatic activity offer new therapeutic strategies.

METHODS

An extensive literature search of Medline and Pubmed was conducted to include all published reports on ATC. Secondary articles were identified from key paper reference listings.

CONCLUSIONS

Significant progress, in the last 5 years, has been made outlining thyroid tumorigenesis and the progression to anaplasia. Continued identification and development of drug therapies is required to counter specific molecular targets responsible for the post-malignant dedifferentiation process and ultimately the fatal neoplastic phenotype.