Table 3.

Chemotherapy and molecular-targeted agents for refractory thymic carcinoma

Authors	Agent	Study design	Target	Number	Response rate (DCR)	PFS (month)	OS (month)
Cytotoxic agents
Loehrer et al. [29]	Pemetrexed	Ph II	-	11	NR	1.3	N/A
Wakelee et al. [33]	Amrubicin	Ph II	-	19	10.5 %	8.5	18.1
Liang et al. [46]	Pemetrexed	Retrosp	-	10	10.0 %	6.5	12.7
Palmieri et al. [47]	Capecitabine + gemcitabine	Ph II	-	8	37.5 %	6 (3–10)	N/A
The present study	S-1	Retrosp	-	14	42.9 %	8.1	30.0
Molecular targeted agents
Thomas et al. [13]	Sunitinib	Ph II	c-KIT, PDGFR	23	26 % (65 %)	7.2	Not reached
Zucali et al. [14]	Everolimus	Ph II	mTOR	12	25 % (41 %)	12.1a	24.0a
Rajan et al. [48]	Cixutumumab	Ph II	IGF-1R	12	0 %	1.7	8.4
Giaccone et al. [49]	Belinostat	Ph II	HDAC	16	0 % (50 %)	5.8	12.4
Besse et al. [50]	Milciclib (PHA-848125 AC)	Ph II	CDK, src family	26	-	-	-
Bedano et al. [51]	Erlotinib + bevacizumab	Ph II	EGFR, VEGF	7	0	N/A	N/A
Kurup et al. [52]	Gefitinib	Ph II	EGFR	7	0	N/A	N/A
Giaccone et al. [53]	Imatinib	Ph II	c-KIT mutation	5	0	N/A	N/A
Loehrer et al. [54]	Octreotide + prednisone	Ph II	somatostatin receptor	6	0	4.5	23.4
Gubens et al. [55]	Saracatinib (AZD0530)	Ph II	src family	9	0	3.6	6.7

n number, PFS progression-free survival, DCR disease control rate, OS overall survival, Ph II phase II, Retrosp retrospective, IGF-1R insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor, HDAC histone deacetylase, PDGFR platelet-derived growth factor, CDK cyclin-dependent kinase, mTOR mammalian target of rapamycin. EGFR epidermal growth factor, VEGF vascular endothelial growth factor

^aSurvival data include thymoma and thymic carcinoma