New approaches in the management of radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer: the molecular targeted therapy era.

Although thyroid carcinoma usually has an excellent prognosis, the lack of therapeutic options is an issue for patients that develop metastases and are resistant to radioiodine therapy. The development of novel molecular targeted therapies and the characterization of several proteins that have a crucial role in the carcinogenesis process of differentiated thyroid cancer have created an opportunity to design new clinical trials for this setting. Moreover, the encouraging initial results of first clinical trials have accelerated the development of placebo-controlled phase III studies that will assess the role of these new agents in the management of differentiated thyroid cancer.