Dr. Dadu on Treatment Approaches in Medullary Thyroid Cancer

Ramona Dadu, MD, assistant professor, Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses treatment approaches in medullary thyroid cancer.

According to Dadu, medullary thyroid cancer is somewhat non-immunogenic, as there are few immune cells that infiltrate within the tumor microenvironment. However, there are some patients who have increased levels of certain lymphocytes, as well as PD-L1 expression on tumor cells.

While there is a small subset of patients for whom immunotherapy may be effective, the best approach is likely a combinatorial regimen involving an agent that can make that tumor microenvironment more immunogenic, says Dadu.

Going forward in this treatment landscape, Dadu says that combination approaches incorporating both targeted therapy and immunotherapy may work best for these patients.