Phase II trial of VEGFR2 inhibitor apatinib for metastatic sarcoma: focus on efficacy and safety

Abstract

Cancer: Starving sarcomas into submission A drug that inhibits blood vessel growth offers a potentially promising treatment for a class of tumors with a poor prognosis. Sarcomas form in bone and connective tissue, and patients with advanced disease have a five-year survival rate of less than 10%. Researchers led by Jilong Yang of the Tainjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital in China tested apatanib, a drug that starves tumors by preventing blood vessel development, in late-stage sarcoma patients. Strikingly, 15% of the patients experienced tumor reduction after treatment, and more than half overall achieved at least partial disease control. Adverse events were generally mild, but Yang and colleagues observed that patients who experienced certain side-effects achieved a greater survival benefit from treatment. These results support further investigation of this drug, and offer hints of possible biomarkers to predict response.