Considering the need to treat advanced TC more effectively, disparate findings in predictive molecular markers (eg, KIT mutations in TSCC, but not in thymomas) suggest that targeted treatments will have to be different in thymomas and TC.
Apart from their different morphology, TC and thymomas differ also in functional terms (TC, in contrast to thymomas, have lost the capacity to promote the maturation of intratumorous lymphocytes), have different genetic features (discussed in this review), a different immunoprofile (most TC overexpress c-KIT, whereas thymomas are consistently negative), and different clinical features (TC, in contrast to thymomas, are not associated with paraneoplastic myasthenia gravis).
In summary, COX-2 is expressed in all subtypes of thymomas and thymic carcinomas and thus represents, in addition to EGFR and KIT, a potential therapeutic target.