Apatinib combined with SOX neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced gastric cancer: A multicenter, single-armed, prospective study.

Abstract

367 Background: Molecular targeted therapy has made great progress in the treatment of gastric cancer. In some previous studies, apatinib, an oral small molecular of VEGFR-2 TKI, had been confirmed can improve OS and PFS with an acceptable safety profile in patients with advanced gastric cancer refractory to two or more lines of prior chemotherapy. However, there is limited evidence about the safety and feasibility of apatinib combined with SOX regimen as neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced gastric cancer (AGC). Methods: This is a multicenter, single-armed, prospective study. Patients with AGC (cT2-4N+M0) without prior anti-cancer strategies were included. Patients were received 2 to 5 cycles (21 days a cycle) of neoadjuvant therapy using S-1 (po, 40-60 mg bid, day1-day14), oxaliplatin (iv, 130 mg/m2, day1), and apatinib (po, 500 mg qd). Apatinib was prohibited in the last cycle. The operation should be performed 2 to 4 weeks later of the neoadjuvant therapy. The primary endpoint was R0 resection rate. The secondary endpoint included safety, ORR, and DCR. Results: A total of 56 patients from 10 centers in China were recruited. There were 43 males and 13 females. The median age was 63.04 years (range 41-75 years). There were 43 patients with tumor response evaluation, 29 patients (67.4%) had partial response (PR), 12 patients (27.9%) had stable disease (SD), and 2 patient (4.6%) had progressive disease (PD). The ORR and DCR were 67.4% (29/43) and 95.3% (41/43), respectively. 36 patients received gastric surgery, the R0 resection rate was 97.2%, 3 patients had postoperative complication: one had intestinal obstruction and 2 had pneumonia (all Clavien-Dindo classification less than grade II). 46 patients were included for safety analysis. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) and grade 3/4 AEs were 84.8% (39/46) and 17.4% (8/46), respectively. The most common AEs were neutropenia (40%), low platelet count (40%), leucopenia (32.6%), vomit (13%). Conclusions: This prospective study shows that neoadjuvant therapy using apatinib plus SOX brings clinical benefit to AGC with a high disease control rate and tolerable adverse reactions. Clinical trial information: NCT 03192735.