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Novel Agents in the Treatment of Thymic Malignancies

  • Lung Cancer (HA Wakelee, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

The management of thymic tumours is a paradigm of multidisciplinary collaboration. Chemotherapy may be administered part of curative-intent sequential strategy integrating subsequent surgery or radiotherapy, or as an exclusive treatment if local treatment is not achievable. Recurrences of thymic epithelial tumors should be managed according to the same strategy as newly diagnosed tumors. Given the limited activity of cytotoxic agents in the advanced, refractory setting, novel and innovative agents are needed. The better understanding of thymic carcinogenesis may provide a rationale in this setting.

Targeted agents approved for other solid tumors that have shown activity in thymic tumors include mTOR, KIT inhibitors, as well as somatostatin analogues. Anti-angiogenic agent sunitinib may be considered a standard in advanced lines of treatment. Ongoing studies are assessing the opportunity of targeting emerging targets, including PI3K, CDK, and immune checkpoint PD-1/PD-L1.

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References and Recommended Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, Lyon, France

    Claire Merveilleux du Vignaux MSC, Jean-Michel Maury MD & Nicolas Girard MD, PHD

  2. National Expert Centre for Thymic Malignancies, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France

    Jean-Michel Maury MD & Nicolas Girard MD, PHD

  3. Institut du Thorax Curie-Montsouris, Institut Curie, Paris, France

    Nicolas Girard MD, PHD

  4. Départment d’Oncologie Médicale, Institut Curie, 26 rue d’Ulm, 75248, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Nicolas Girard MD, PHD

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  1. Claire Merveilleux du Vignaux MSC
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  2. Jean-Michel Maury MD
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  3. Nicolas Girard MD, PHD
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Correspondence to Nicolas Girard MD, PHD.

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Claire Merveilleux du Vignaux declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Jean-Michel Maury declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Nicolas Girard has received research support and travel grants from Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, MSD, and Pfizer.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Lung Cancer

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Merveilleux du Vignaux, C., Maury, JM. & Girard, N. Novel Agents in the Treatment of Thymic Malignancies. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 18, 52 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-017-0495-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-017-0495-8

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