The impact of previous therapy strategy on the efficiency of anlotinib hydrochloride as a third-line treatment on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): a subgroup analysis of ALTER0303 trial.

Background: Lung cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. The ALTER0303 trial revealed that anlotinib might be used as a third-line or further treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Meanwhile, the impact of previous therapy strategies on the efficiency of anlotinib still remains unknown. Methods: The subgroup of patients in ALTER0303 were analyzed by using Kaplan-Meier estimates, Pearson chi(2), or Fisher's exact test. Results: There was no statistical significance on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) among patients in different previous antiangiogenic treatments groups. Patients in the chest radiotherapy (CRT) group had longer median PFS than the non-CRT group (5.93 vs. 4.63 m, P=0.027). Regardless of what kind of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKI) and chemotherapy regimens were used previously, all patients gained longer PFS in the anlotinib group, while only patients treated with vinorelbine/platinum in the EGFR wild type group, pemetrexed/platinum, vinorelbine/platinum, and gefitinib in the EGFR mutation group, and EGFR TKI used as the first line group could benefit from anlotinib on OS. When the OS was calculated from the time of diagnosis to the death, anlotinib could have increased median OS about 6 months (33.8 vs. 27.8 m, P<0.001) compared to the placebo with a hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI): 0.77 (0.60, 1.00). Conclusions: This study indicated that previous bevacizumab or endostatin treatments had no impact on the efficiency of anlotinib. Patients with CRT history benefited more from anlotinib on PFS. EGFR TKI and chemotherapy treatment history had more impact on OS than PFS in patients treated with anlotinib compared to placebo.