Intracranial complete response to toripalimab and anlotinib in a patient with recurrent brain metastases of small cell lung cancer after failure of second-line maintenance therapy: a case report

Background: Approximately 10-25% of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have brain metastases at the time of diagnosis. Radiotherapy is a common treatment for brain metastases, but the relapse rates are high. Accumulating evidence suggests that immunotherapy may have a better therapeutic effect for brain metastases. Here, we reported a patient with limited-stage SCLC and relapsed brain metastases who achieved sustained intracranial complete response (CR) to programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor toripalimab and multikinase inhibitor anlotinib. .Case Description: A 59-year-old female patient developed brain metastases after initial treatment for limited stage SCLC. CR of brain lesions was achieved after intensity-modulated radiation therapy followed by chemotherapy with irinotecan plus lobaplatin and concurrent anlotinib. PD-1 inhibitor sintilimab combined with anlotinib were given as maintenance therapy. Small and asymptomatic brain lesions relapsed 2.5 months after achieving CR. Another three cycles of sintilimab combined with anlotinib failed to control the relapsed brain lesions. Following two cycles of another PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab combined with anlotinib, the relapsed brain metastases disappeared. Then the patient received another seven cycles of this regimen with sustained CR, and no serious adverse reactions occurred. Interestingly, the primary lung tumor achieved sustained CR from the end of initial treatment to the last follow-up.Conclusions: This case suggests that toripalimab in combination with anlotinib may be a promising treatment option for patients with brain metastases from SCLC.