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William J. Gradishar, MD, FACP, FASCO
William J. Gradishar, MD, FACP, FASCO
Posted: Monday, August 21, 2023
New treatment options for patients with triple-negative breast cancer are needed, since those with the disease often face a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Professor Mengru Cao, of Harbin Medical University, China, and colleagues investigated the addition of small-molecule angiogenic inhibitor of VEGFR-2 apatinib to etoposide for pretreated patients with this type of breast cancer. Published in BMC Cancer, their single-arm phase II data showed that the combination of apatinib and oral etoposide was feasible and relatively well tolerated in this patient population.
A total of 40 patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer (refractory to at least one line of chemotherapy) were enrolled in a phase II, single-arm, nonblinded, non–placebo-controlled trial at Harbin Medical University. Eligible patients received oral apatinib (at a dose of 500 mg) on days 1 to 21 and oral etoposide on days 1 to 14 of a 3-week cycle until disease progression or an intolerable adverse event. Etoposide was administered for up to six cycles. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival.
At a median follow-up of 26.8 months, the median progression-free survival was 6.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.8–8.2 months), and the median overall survival was 24.5 months (95% CI = 10.2–38.8 months). The objective response rate and disease control rate were 10.0% and 62.5%, respectively. The most common adverse events were hypertension (65.0%), nausea (47.5%), and vomiting (42.5%), with four patients reporting grade 3 adverse events.
The researchers concluded that further study of this treatment combination in a larger, multicenter, randomized, controlled trial may be warranted.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
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