Efficacy and safety of anlotinib plus camrelizumab in treating retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas: a single-center retrospective cohort study.

Abstract

Conventional chemotherapy has limited therapeutic effects in retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas (RSTs), while anlotinib emerged as a novel multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for sarcomas. TKIs in combination with immunotherapy have demonstrated clinical activity in a variety of solid tumors. This study retrospectively analyzed the efficacy and safety of anlotinib plus camrelizumab for the treatment of RSTs. Patients with RSTs who received anlotinib plus camrelizumab at Peking University Cancer Hospital Sarcoma Center were enrolled. Response assessment was conducted every 3 cycles of treatment according to response evaluation criteria in solid tumors version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1). Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were evaluated by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0. Patients who had at least 1 response evaluation were analyzed. In all, 57 RSTs cases including 35 males and 22 females were analyzed, with a median age of 55 years. The pathological subtypes included 38 cases of L-sarcoma (liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma), and 19 cases of non-L-sarcoma. Two patients (3.5%) had complete response (CR) and 13 patients (22.8%) had partial response (PR), with an objective response rate (ORR) of 26.3%. There were 31 (54.4%) and 11 (19.3%) patients with stable and progressive disease, respectively, with a disease control rate of 80.7%. Patients with non-L-sarcoma had a significantly better response rate than those with L-sarcoma (ORR: 52.6% vs. 13.2%; P=0.0031). After a median follow-up of 15.8 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.1 months, with 3- and 6-month PFS rates of 83.6% and 60.8%, respectively. Patients with non-L-sarcoma had a significantly longer median PFS than did those with L-sarcoma (median PFS: 11.1 vs. 6.3 months; P=0.0256). TRAEs occurred in 28 (49.1%) patients, and 13 (22.8%) patients had grade 3-4 TRAEs. Hypertension (24.6%), hypothyroidism (19.3%), and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (12.3%) were the most common TRAEs. The combination of anlotinib and camrelizumab demonstrated possible therapeutic efficacy and safety in the treatment of RSTs, especially for non-L-sarcomas.