Title:The Efficacy and Safety of Anlotinib Alone and in Combination with
Other Drugs in Previously Treated Advanced Thymic Epithelia Tumors: A
Retrospective Analysis
Volume: 18
Issue: 4
Author(s): Shuo Li, Haiyan Zhou, Xiqin Zhang, Bing Bu, Rongjie Tao, Hui Zhang*Jinming Yu*
Affiliation:
- Department of Medical Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical
University and Shandong Academy of Medical Science, Jinan, Shandong, China
- Department of Radiation Oncology and Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan,
Shandong, China
Keywords:
Thymic epithelial tumor, thymoma, thymic carcinoma, anlotinib, second-line, multi-line.
Abstract:
Background: Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are rare thoracic malignancies with no
standard second-line treatment. Tumor angiogenesis is closely associated with the pathogenesis and
invasiveness of TETs. Anlotinib is a small-molecule multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)
which inhibits tumor angiogenesis and tumor cell proliferation. Published studies have demonstrated
the promising clinical effect of multitarget TKIs sunitinib and lenvatinib in previously treated TETs.
However, TKIs have a high incidence of adverse events (AEs).
Objective: In this study, we investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of anlotinib in previously
treated TET patients.
Methods: We collected clinical data of 22 patients from Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute
between October 2018 and March 2022. These patients were diagnosed with advanced TETs and
received at least the first-line (1st-line) treatment. We analyzed the clinical effects between anlotinib
monotherapy and anlotinib combination therapy in the second-line (2nd-line) or anlotinib
treatment in different lines.
Results: These 22 patients included 18 cases of thymic carcinoma (TC) and 4 cases of thymoma
(T). 68.2% of patients were males, and the median age was 53 years. Fourteen patients (63.6%)
received anlotinib monotherapy and 8 patients (36.4%) received anlotinib combination therapy.
The objective response rate (ORR) was 9.1% in the overall patients. The median progression-free
survival (PFS) in the overall population was 12 months (14 months for T and 9 months for TC),
and the median overall survival (OS) was 24 months (survival was not reached for T and was 24
months for TC). The incidence of AEs was 50%, most of them were grades I and II, and the incidence
of grades III and IV AEs was 9%.
Conclusion: This is the first study reporting the clinical effect of anlotinib in previously treated
TETs patients. The survival data indicate that the efficacy of anlotinib is superior to sunitinib and
lenvatinib. Our results suggest that anlotinib is a promising treatment option for previously treated
TET patients and its toxicity is tolerable. More research and patents are needed in the future to
explore better options for the diagnosis and treatment of TETs.
