title: New findings on thymic epithelial tumors: Something is changing.
abstract: Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are uncommon neoplasms with a wide range of anatomical, clinical, histological and molecular malignant entities. To date the management of TETs within clinical practice is based on a multimodal therapeutic strategy including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy with a multidisciplinary approach and prognostic evaluation is mainly based on Masaoka staging and World Health Organization classification. Therefore novel strategies are needed, especially for refractory and/or recurrent TETs and for thymic carcinomas that present a poor prognosis. Personalized approaches are currely being developed and molecular targets are emerging from recent integrated genomic analyses. Targeted therapy will represent an important treatment option for TETs with an aggressive histology. To date, data indicate that vascular endothelial growth factor molecules, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor, cyclin-dependent kinases and mammalian target of rapamycin may be potentially useful as targeted biological therapies.
authors.affiliation: Rossana Berardi, Francesca Morgese, Stefano Cascinu, Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica Marche, 60126 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berardi
authors.affiliation: Rossana Berardi, Francesca Morgese, Stefano Cascinu, Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica Marche, 60126 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morgese
authors.affiliation: Rossana Berardi, Francesca Morgese, Stefano Cascinu, Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica Marche, 60126 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Garassino
authors.affiliation: Rossana Berardi, Francesca Morgese, Stefano Cascinu, Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica Marche, 60126 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cascinu
keywords: Programmed cell death-1; Targeted therapy; Thymic carcinoma; Thymic epithelial tumors; Thymoma