Efficacy and safety for Apatinib treatment in advanced gastric cancer: a real world study

Apatinib has been proved to be effective and safe among patients in gastric cancer in Phase II and III Trials. We aimed to evaluate its efficacy and safety in real world practice, and to explore factors associated with efficacy. Between January 2015 and February 2017, totally 36 patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma or adenocarcinoma of gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) were enrolled and followed up retrospectively after failing at least two lines of systemic therapy. The mPFS was 2.65 months (95%CI 1.66–3.54), and mOS was 5.8 months (95%CI 4.77–6.83). Two patients achieved partial response, and nineteen achieved stable disease. The disease control rate (DCR) was 58.3%, and objective response rate (ORR) was 5.6%. Common grade adverse events were hypertension (38.9%), proteinuria (36.1%), and neutropenia (33.3%). And the most common adverse events over grade 3 were hand-foot syndrome (8.3%), anemia (5.6%), and diarrhea (5.6%). No treatment-related death was documented during the drug administration. Exploratory analyses indicated patients treated with antiangiogenic therapy previously were more likely to benefit from apatinib.