Anlotinib Combined With Chemotherapy and Neoadjuvant Therapy for Hormone Receptor-positive HER-2 Negative Breast Cancer

Anlotinib is an oral multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that strongly inhibits VEGFR, PDGFR, FGFR, and c-kit. Combining anti-angiogenesis with chemotherapy yielded increased response rates in patients with early-stage human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer. This phase II study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adding anlotinib to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy in primary (HER2)-negative breast cancer. Patients aged 18 years or older with previously untreated stage ⅡB-IIIA histologically documented (HER2)-negative breast cancer were assigned to receive chemotherapy plus oral Anlotinib (12 mg qd, d1-14; 21 days per cycle; total 5 cycles). Chemotherapy comprised of pirarubicin at 50 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide at 500 mg/m2 and albumin-bound paclitaxel at 200 mg/m2, (d1, 21 days per cycle; both total 6 cycles), which was then followed by surgery. The primary endpoint was pathologic complete response (pCR) (no invasive carcinoma in breast or axilla). Secondary end points included safety and disease-free survival (DFS). Stratification was based on the clinical breast cancer stage .