Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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SUNITINIB, A VEGFR RECEPTOR TYROSINE KINASE INHIBITOR AND ITS THYROID EFFECTS

RALUCA-ALEXANDRA TRIFANESCU 1,2, OANA-GABRIELA TRIFANESCU 1,3*, ANDREI GOLDSTEIN 2, MARIANA PURICE 2, RODICA ANGHEL 1,3, CATALINA POIANA 1,2

1.“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 37 Dionisie Lupu Street, Sector 1, 020022, Bucharest, Romania
2 .“C.I. Parhon” National Institute of Endocrinology, 34 - 38 Aviatorilor Avenue, Sector 1, 011863, Bucharest, Romania
3 .“Al. Trestioreanu” Institute of Oncology, 252 Fundeni Street, Sector 2, 022328, Bucharest, Romania
*corresponding author: endoparhon@gmail.com

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Thyroid dysfunction occurs in 14 - 85% of patients treated with sunitinib, a multitargeted tyrosine-kinase inhibitor. Twenty-nine patients (20 males/9 females) treated with sunitinib (median dose 50 mg/day, 4 weeks “on”, 2 weeks “off” treatment regimen) for metastatic renal cell carcinoma were diagnosed with sunitinib-induced thyroid dysfunction. Thyroid function tests (thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free T4 (thyroxine)) were measured by chemiluminescence. Primary hypothyroidism was initially diagnosed in 25 patients (86.2%), while transient thyrotoxicosis occurred in 4 patients (13.8%), followed by persistent hypothyroidism. Median duration of sunitinib treatment till diagnosis of hypothyroidism was 7 months and of thyrotoxicosis of 6.5 months, respectively. Overt hypothyroidism (17/25 patients) prevailed over subclinical hypothyroidism (8/25 patients), while overt thyrotoxicosis occurred similarly with subclinical thyrotoxicosis (2/4 patients). Due to high prevalence of sunitinib-induced thyroid dysfunction, monitoring of thyroid function is recommended.