Prognostic factors of refractory NSCLC patients receiving anlotinib hydrochloride as the third- or further-line treatment

OBJECTIVE: Anlotinib hydrochloride is a multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, fibroblast growth factor receptor, platelet-derived growth factor receptor, c-Kit, and c-MET; therefore, it exhibits both antitumor and anti-angiogenetic activities. A phase III trial has shown that anlotinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who presented with progressive disease or intolerance after standard chemotherapy. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of patients receiving anlotinib treatment to determine the dominant populations who are fit for the treatment. METHODS: Data were collected from March 2015 to January 2017 from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, phase III trial of anlotinib (ALTER0303). A total of 437 patients were enrolled and randomly allocated (2:1) to the anlotinib and placebo groups. Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank test were performed to compare PFS and OS. Cox proportional hazards model was adopted for multivariate prognostic analysis. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis indicated that high post-therapeutic peripheral blood granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio and elevated alkaline phosphatase levels were independent risk factors for PFS. Meanwhile, elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone, blood glucose, and triglyceride levels; hypertension; and hand–foot syndrome were independent protective factors of PFS. High post-therapeutic peripheral blood granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score ≥ 2, and the sum of the maximal target lesion length at baseline were independent risk factors of OS, and hypertriglyceridemia was an independent protective factor of OS. CONCLUSIONS: This study preliminarily explored the possible factors that affected PFS and OS after anlotinib treatment in patients with advanced refractory NSCLC, and the baseline characteristics of the therapeutically dominant populations were then identified.