ArticleDrug design, development and therapy2026
Anlotinib as Third-Line or Later Therapy in Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Real-World Efficacy and Safety Outcomes.
Article in Drug design, development and therapy, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Anlotinib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has demonstrated anti-angiogenic and immunomodulatory activity in several solid tumors; however, its efficacy and predictive biomarkers in recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) remain unclear. Methods: This retrospective, single-center study included 68 patients with histologically confirmed R/M HNSCC who received anlotinib as third-line or later therapy (following failure of at least two prior systemic lines; 12 mg once daily on days 1-14 every 21 days, with dose reductions to 10 or 8 mg as needed) between January 2021 and October 2023. Tumor response was evaluated according to RECIST v1.1 in patients with available radiologic follow-up. Survival outcomes were analyzed in the overall treated population. Archived tumor tissues were subjected to next-generation sequencing (NGS) and multiplex immunofluorescence (mIF) to exploratorily assess genomic alterations and immune microenvironment features. Results: Among 68 treated patients, 14 achieved partial response, and 39 had stable disease, yielding an objective response rate (ORR) of 22.1% and a disease control rate (DCR) of 74.6% in treated patients. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the overall cohort were 6.3 and 8.4 months, respectively. Patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma and ECOG performance status 0-1 demonstrated improved outcomes. NGS analysis identified frequent alterations in TP53, PIK3CA, CDKN2A, PTEN, and FGF/FGFR pathways. PI3K pathway alterations were not associated with prolonged PFS. Tumors with PD-L1 CPS ≥ 1 and higher CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration exhibited an inflamed phenotype and were associated with improved response. Grade ≥3 adverse events occurred in 25.0% of patients, most commonly hypertension and hand-foot syndrome. Conclusion: Anlotinib demonstrated promising responses with manageable toxicity in a heavily pretreated R/M HNSCC population. Integration of genomic and immune microenvironment features may provide hypothesis-generating insights into patient selection.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.