Treatment of patients with thymic epithelial tumors

Jordi Remon, MD, PhD, HM CIOCC - Centro Integral Oncológico Clara Campal, Barcelona, Spain, discusses the treatment of two major groups of thymic epithelial tumors, thymoma and thymic carcinomas. Approximately one third of patients with thymic carcinomas are diagnosed with advanced disease at baseline and require systemic treatment upfront. Platinum-based chemotherapy is first-line treatment for patients with resectable thymic epithelial tumors with no standard second-line treatment. A promising treatment option for patients who are platinum-refractory could be the antiangiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitor, lenvatinib, whereby approximately 40% of patient with thymic carcinomas have previously demonstrated a response rate of 40% and 9-month progression-free survival (PFS). Immunotherapy (IO) has shown efficacy in clinical trials in thymic carcinomas, with patients demonstrating a 20% response rate and 4-month PFS. Dr Masip emphasizes the importance of investigating the combination of antiangiogenic agents with IO for the treatment of thymic epithelial tumors. This interview took place during the virtual European Lung Cancer Congress 2022.