EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF APATINIB COMBINED WITH GP REGIMEN IN THE TREATMENT OF RECURRENT NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA

Tao Luo, Haihui Shang^*

Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Department of Hanchuan People's Hospital, Xiaogan 431600, Hubei Province, China

Background: There is no standard therapy for recurrent metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after first-line chemotherapy. Here, this study explored the efficacy and safety of apatinib + GP regimen (gemcitabine and cisplatin) in the treatment of recurrent NPC.

Methods: Totally 62 patients with advanced recurrent NPC treated in our hospital from July 2017 to July 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. According to therapy mode, they were assigned to two different groups: experimental group (Exp group): Treated by apatinib + GP chemotherapy;control group (Con group): Treated by GP chemotherapy alone. The two groups were compared in short-term efficacy, adverse reactions,disease-free survival time (DFST) and changes of tumor markers before and after therapy.

Results: The two groups were not greatly different in clinical efficacy and disease control rate (DCR) (both P>0.050), and the Exp group showed notably higherobjective remission rate (ORR) than the Con group (P=0.007). Additionally, the Exp group presented notably lower concentrations of serum CYFRA21-1, MIP-3α, and CA125 than the Con group (Fig.1A-C, all P<0.01). Moreover, the combination of drugs did not increase adverse reactions, and the DFST of the Con group was greatly different from that of the Exp group (5.0 months vs. 6.5 months, P=0.001).

Conclusion: Apatinib + GP regimen can lengthen the DFST of patients with recurrent NPC and reduce adverse reactions, so it might be a therapy regimen for recurrent NPC.