Case report: Long-term partial response of apatinib plus paclitaxel as second-line therapy in a patient with metastatic gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is the second most prevalent cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in China. The prognosis of metastatic gastric cancer is poor with a median overall survival of 8-10 months. Apatinib, an oral small-molecule, selective vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is approved as third-line or subsequent therapy for gastric cancer in China. Several recent small-scale studies and case reports showed that it may be great help in improvement of prognosis as second-line treatment in patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer. Here, we present a case of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma with multiple hepatic metastases who was treated with apatinib plus paclitaxel as second-line therapy, realized a long progression-free survival of 37 months. Until 29 January 2022, the disease remains an efficacy of partial response. We believe that the good outcome of this case is not an accident, because of the typically hyper-vascular of his liver metastases, the treatment toxicities of hypertension and proteinuria, all may be potential predictive biomarkers for anti-angiogenic treatments.

The Research Progress of Antiangiogenic Therapy, Immune Therapy and Tumor Microenvironment.

Anti-angiogenesis therapy, a promising strategy against cancer progression, is limited by drug-resistance, which could be attributed to changes within the tumor microenvironment. Studies have increasingly shown that combining anti-angiogenesis drugs with immunotherapy synergistically inhibits tumor growth and progression. Combination of anti-angiogenesis therapy and immunotherapy are well-established therapeutic options among solid tumors, such as non-small cell lung cancer, hepatic cell carcinoma, and renal cell carcinoma. However, this combination has achieved an unsatisfactory effect among some tumors, such as breast cancer, glioblastoma, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Therefore, resistance to anti-angiogenesis agents, as well as a lack of biomarkers, remains a challenge. In this review, the current anti-angiogenesis therapies and corresponding drug-resistance, the relationship between tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy, and the latest progress on the combination of both therapeutic modalities are discussed. The aim of this review is to discuss whether the combination of anti-angiogenesis therapy and immunotherapy can exert synergistic antitumor effects, which can provide a basis to exploring new targets and developing more advanced strategies.

Treatment and Survival Patterns of Primary Adenosquamous Carcinoma of the Liver: A Retrospective Analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Primary adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) is a rare liver malignancy with very little data published so far. We describe the clinical characteristics of this tumor and analyze its survival pattern to improve the diagnosis and treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study collected data of 15 patients with primary hepatic ASC in our hospital within 10 years (from 2009 to 2018). We analyzed the clinical characteristics, imaging data, treatment, and survival of ASC in the study. Two of these cases have been reported. RESULTS: The common clinical symptoms of hepatic ASC are liver pain and jaundice. Laboratory examination showed that carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) increased, but Alpha-FetoProtein (AFP) did not. Primary hepatic ASC is a rare subtype of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and meets the requirements of pathological diagnosis: CK20 (-), CK7 (+), CK19 (+), and p63 (+). Of the 15 patients, 11 were treated surgically, of which 3 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. The prognosis of ASC patients is poor with a median survival time (MST) of 6 months (range: 2 to 15). The duration of MST in surgically treated patients was longer than that of nonsurgical patients (7.0 months vs. 3.0 months). Patients that received adjuvant chemotherapy survived longer (MST: 15 months). Patients with lymph node metastasis had a worse prognosis. CONCLUSION: Primary hepatic ASC is a rare malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. Radical surgery may be an effective treatment for prolonging survival. Surgical treatment combined with adjuvant therapy may further improve survival.

Delayed immune thrombocytopenia after discontinuation of nivolumab therapy: A case report and literature review.

INTRODUCTION: Nivolumab, a programmed death-1(PD-1) inhibitor antibody, have demonstrated anti-tumor activity for multiple malignancies. Such immune checkpoint inhibitors induce novel and distinctive adverse effects, which are collectively named immune-related adverse events. Immune-related adverse events can theoretically occur at any part of the body, including the haemopoietic system. Most immune-related adverse events developed within 10 weeks of receiving immunotherapy. Thus far, there is no report of immune thrombocytopenia as an immune-related adverse event developed after discontinuation of immunotherapy. CASE REPORT: We describe a 62-year-old male with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer developed immune thrombocytopenia nearly two months after discontinuation of nivolumab. When thrombocytopenia was detected, the patient was undergoing radiotherapy of supraclavicular lymph nodes. After complex diagnosis-by-exclusion process, nivolumab-induced immune thrombocytopenia was diagnosed. MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOME: Intravenous immunoglobulins 20 g daily for 5 days, intravenous methylprednisolone 40 mg daily for 14 days followed by oral prednisone, intermittent platelet transfusion and oral thrombopoietin receptor (eltrombopag 25 mg daily) were administered. After 30 days, his platelet count had achieved a level of adequate hemostasis and continued to improvement during the tapering period. DISCUSSION: Most immune-related developed 6 months of immunotherapy. Clinicians need to be aware of a clinical diagnostic complex, developing months to years after discontinuation of immunotherapy, which recently is termed delayed immune-related events. This case is the first report of immune checkpoint inhibitors-induced thrombocytopenia that developed nearly 2 months after discontinuation of treatment with nivolumab for metastatic NSCLC. In future clinical practice, patients who have received immune checkpoint inhibitors develop new or unexplained symptom, irrespective of interval post-immunotherapy, immune-related adverse events should be considered.