Written by: Ashrita Gollapalli (12th grade / Aldie, VA USA)
Editor: Noelle A. Koo (12th grade / Ashburn, VA USA)
Thyroid cancer is a type of cancer that stems from the thyroid gland, located in the front part of the neck below the thyroid cartilage (American Cancer Society, n.d.). There are three main types of thyroid cancer: medullary, differentiated, and anaplastic(American Cancer Society, n.d.). Thyroid cancer occurs when the cells in your thyroid undergo genetic mutations that allow the cells to grow and multiply rapidly(Nguyen et al., 2015). It also prevents the cells from dying like otherwise healthy cells otherwise would, which then causes the accumulation of the unhealthy thyroid cells into a tumor (Nguyen et al., 2015). Recent estimates for 2020 alone include around 52,890 new cases of cancer and 2,180 deaths, which shows that further research is necessary for a more reliable and effective treatment of thyroid cancer (American Cancer Society, n.d.).
Currently, many new types of chemotherapy drugs and methods are being explored for patients to help deal with thyroid cancer. For example, chemotherapy drug Vandetanib was used in a study against progressive medullary cancer with promising results (Chougnet et al., 2015). In this study, several patients were treated with the drug over a two year span (Chougnet et al., 2015). There was found to be a complete tumor response in one patient, a partial response in 20%, stable disease in 55%, and progress in 17% of patients (Chougnet et al., 2015). From these results it can be seen that Vandetanib is an effective option for people who have thyroid cancer and chose to get treatment along this path. In addition to Vandetanib, another popular chemotherapy drug used for patients with thyroid cancer is Cabozantinib (Weitzman & Cabanillas, 2015).
A study was conducted to assess the overall efficiency of Cabozantinib in humans in detail (Weitzman & Cabanillas, 2015). Early trials that utilized Cabozantinib found that, in comparison with another drug, patients had an overall survival of 44.3 months on Cabozantinib and 18.9 months while on placebo (Weitzman & Cabanillas, 2015). It can be seen that there are currently existing chemotherapy drugs that effectively help reduce the effects of thyroid cancer but there is still room for future improvement. The problem with current chemotherapeutic drugs that needs to be improved is that in order to make a positive impact a large amount of the drug needs to be loaded into the body, which means the drugs don't only kill the cancerous cells, but also attack healthy cells causing a lot of unwanted side effects.
Excerpt from the paper titled "Plant-based Therapies and Treatments for Thyroid Cancer" which can be found under the "Publications" tab.
Citations from excerpt:
Chougnet, N.C., Borget, I., Leboulleux, S., Fouchardiere, C., Bonichon, F., Criniere, L., Niccoli,
P., Bardet, S., Schneegans, O., Zanetta, S., Schvartz, C., Drui, D., Chauffert, B., Rohmer, V., Schlumberger, M. (2015). Vandetanib for the treatment of advanced medullary thyroid cancer outside a clinical trial: results from a french cohort. Thyroid, 25(4), 386-91. doi:10.1089/thy.2014.0361
Weitzman, S., Cabanillas, M. (2015). The treatment landscape in thyroid cancer: a focus on
cabozantinib. Cancer Management and Research, 7, 265-78. doi:10.2147/CMAR.S68373
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