Efficacy and Safety of Apatinib Combined With S-1 in the Treatment of Advanced Gastric Cancer: a Meta-analysis

Abstract Objective: To study the efficacy and safety of apatinib combined with S – 1 in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer, in order to provide more evidence based medical evidence for the clinic.Methods: Randomized controlled trials of apatinib combined with S – 1 (experimental group) versus S - 1 (controlg roup) in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer were collected by computer literature search in Chinese and English databases, for the deadlines of March 21, 2021. Two investigators independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated the quality of the literature using the Cochrane risk bias assessment tool. And the Meta – analysis was performed using Review Manager 5. 3 software almost.Results: A total of 20 articles were included, totaling 1,150 patients. Meta – analysis showed that the objective response rate [OR = 2.02, 95% CI (1.56, 2.63), P < 0.00001], disease control rate [OR = 3.10, 95% CI (2.30, 4.17), P < 0.00001], median overall survival [MD = 3.99, 95% CI (3.56, 4.43), P < 0.00001] of patients with apatinib combined with S – 1 group were higher than the S – 1 group, then the median progression – free survival had not significant differences [MD = 1.24, 95% CI (-1.19, 3.67), P = 0.32]. In the adverse reactions, only the incidence of hypertension [OR = 6.19, 95% CI (1.89, 20.23), P = 0.003] and the incidence of proteinuria [OR = 4.02, 95% CI (1.11, 14.62), P = 0.03] in the apatinib combined with S – 1 group were higher than the S – 1 group, and there was no significant difference in the other adverse reactions. In addition, the levels of IFN – γ and TNF – α in the apatinib combined with S – 1 group were higher than those in the S – 1 group, and the levels of IL - 10, IL – 4, TSGF, CA199 and CEA were lower than those of the S – 1 group.Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that apatinib combined with S - 1 can achieve higher objective response rate, disease control rate, median overall survival, less adverse reactions, and improve immune function, effectively reduce the level of tumor markers.