• Zhaoqing Tang, Yan Wang, Yiyi Yu, Yuehong Cui, Liang Liang, Chen Xu, Zhenbin Shen, Kuntang Shen, Xuefei Wang, Tianshu Liu, and Yihong Sun.
• Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 180 Fenglin Road, Shanghai, 200032, China.
• Bmc Med. 2022 Apr 6; 20 (1): 107.

BackgroundAdding anti-angiogenics to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for localized gastric cancer is recognized as a promising strategy, but its clinical value remains to be defined.MethodsThis single-center, single-arm, phase 2 trial included patients with locally advanced (cT3/4aN+M0) adenocarcinoma of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) who received three cycles of intravenous oxaliplatin (135 mg/m2 on day 1), oral capecitabine (1000 mg/m2 twice daily on days 1 to 14), and oral apatinib for 21 days (250 mg once daily in the first two cycles, and further increased to 500 mg daily in the third cycle based on whether any adverse event of grade 3 or worse occurred), and an additional cycle of oxaliplatin plus capecitabine, followed by gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients who achieved an objective response according to RECIST version 1.1.ResultsBetween April 28, 2017, and October 23, 2019, 37 patients were screened and 35 participants were included. Of the 32 patients assessable for efficacy and safety, objective responses were achieved in 25 (78.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 60.0% to 90.7%) patients. Thirty-one (96.9%) patients received R0 resection, two (6.3%) patients achieved pathological complete response, and 11 (34.4%) patients achieved pathological response. At the data cutoff date (September 30, 2021), the median event-free survival was 42.6 (95% CI, 16.2 to not reached) months, and the median overall survival was not reached. The most common grade 3 or 4 treatment-emergent adverse events were hypertension (9/32, 28.1%), thrombocytopenia (7/32, 21.9%), and neutropenia (5/32, 15.6%). Seven (21.9%) patients developed surgical complications, and the most common one was intra-abdominal abscess (4/32, 12.5%).ConclusionsThe concomitant use of apatinib, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine as neoadjuvant therapy showed promising efficacy and manageable safety profile in patients with locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the stomach or GEJ, and further phase 3 study is warranted.Trial RegistrationThis study was registered with ClinicalTrial.gov ( NCT03229096 ).© 2022. The Author(s).

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