Purpose: Camrelizumab is an antibody against programmed death protein 1. We assessed the activity and safety of camrelizumab plus apatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, in patients with advanced cervical cancer.
Methods: This multicenter, open-label, single-arm, phase II study enrolled patients with advanced cervical cancer who progressed after at least one line of systemic therapy. Patients received camrelizumab 200 mg every 2 weeks and apatinib 250 mg once per day. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) assessed by investigators per RECIST version 1.1. Key secondary end points were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), duration of response, and safety.
Results: Forty-five patients were enrolled and received treatment. Median age was 51.0 years (range, 33-67 years), and 57.8% of patients had previously received two or more lines of chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic disease. Ten patients (22.2%) had received bevacizumab. Median follow-up was 11.3 months (range, 1.0-15.5 months). ORR was 55.6% (95% CI, 40.0% to 70.4%), with two complete and 23 partial responses. Median PFS was 8.8 months (95% CI, 5.6 months to not estimable). Median duration of response and median OS were not reached. Treatment-related grade 3 or 4 adverse events (AEs) occurred in 71.1% of patients, and the most common AEs were hypertension (24.4%), anemia (20.0%), and fatigue (15.6%). The most common potential immune-related AEs included grade 1-2 hypothyroidism (22.2%) and reactive cutaneous capillary endothelial proliferation (8.9%).
Conclusion: Camrelizumab plus apatinib had promising antitumor activity and manageable toxicities in patients with advanced cervical cancer. Larger randomized controlled trials are warranted to validate our findings.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03816553.