Cellular Signaling Pathway Alterations and Potential Targeted Therapies for Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Figure 1

This figure schematically shows the tyrosine kinase receptors, such as RET, EGFR, FGFR, MET, KIT, VEGFR, PDGFR, and some of their downstream effectors. The two most important oncogenic signaling pathways are PI3K/AKT/mTOR and Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK. The activation of the pathways may transduce different transcription factors and induce tumor and endothelial cell proliferation, survival, migration, with subsequent tumor growth, lymphangiogenesis/angiogenesis, and metastasis. Moreover, the main tyrosine kinase inhibitors and their targets are shown.