Luo YH, He T, Lin L, Wang RQ, Cai HX, Hu W. Advanced pancreatic cancer treated with camrelizumab combined with apatinib: A case report. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(2): 100724 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i2.100724]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Wen Hu, MM, Doctor, Department of Oncology, West China Tianfu Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 3966 South Second Section, Tianfu Avenue, Tianfu New District, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China. huwenzhongliu@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Feb 15, 2025; 17(2): 100724 Published online Feb 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i2.100724
Advanced pancreatic cancer treated with camrelizumab combined with apatinib: A case report
Yun-Hao Luo, Ting He, Lu Lin, Rong-Qiu Wang, Hong-Xia Cai, Wen Hu
Yun-Hao Luo, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Chengdu First People's Hospital, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Ting He, Department of Radiology, Sichuan Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Lu Lin, Rong-Qiu Wang, Hong-Xia Cai, Department of Oncology, Chengdu Seventh People's Hospital, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Wen Hu, Department of Oncology, West China Tianfu Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Luo YH contributed to the writing of the original draft; He T was involved in editing the manuscript and medical image analysis; Lin L, Wang RQ and Cai HX participated in manuscript editing and provided computed tomography images; Hu W was mainly responsible for writing and reviewing the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wen Hu, MM, Doctor, Department of Oncology, West China Tianfu Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 3966 South Second Section, Tianfu Avenue, Tianfu New District, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China. huwenzhongliu@163.com
Received: August 24, 2024 Revised: November 1, 2024 Accepted: December 4, 2024 Published online: February 15, 2025 Processing time: 146 Days and 21.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The 5-year survival rate for patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) is 4%-12%. Surgery is the only treatment that offers curative potential, but only 15%-20% of patients are eligible for surgery. PC is prone to recurrence and metastasis, and the antitumor effect of chemotherapy is notably limited.
CASE SUMMARY
Histopathological analysis of a 53-year-old female PC patient who underwent Whipple surgery revealed poorly differentiated tumor cells infiltrating nerves, lymphatics, and blood vessels. The patient received two different first-line chemotherapy regimens consecutively; however, both regimens struggled to control disease progression. During this period, the patient underwent liver metastasis ablation surgery, Candida albicans liver abscess, and stereotactic body radiotherapy. With the addition of camrelizumab to the modified FOLFIRINOX regimen, tumor control was achieved. The patient subsequently refused to continue chemotherapy, and the antitumor regimen was changed to a combination of camrelizumab and apatinib. After patients received a combination of immunotherapy and targeted therapy, the length of hospital stay was significantly reduced. Furthermore, all side effects were within acceptable limits, leading to an improved quality of life and prolonged progression-free survival. Unfortunately, the pain associated with cancer, coupled with the side effects of opioid analgesics, has led the patient to reject all available anticancer treatment options. Approximately one month after camrelizumab and apatinib were discontinued without medical authorization, the PC recurred and rapidly progressed to widespread metastasis, ultimately leading to the patient's death approximately one month later. The overall survival was 2 years.
CONCLUSION
Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have the potential to increase both the quality of life and survival time of PC patients, particularly those whose tumor progression is not effectively controlled by chemotherapy alone. Nevertheless, further clinical trials are necessary to validate these findings.
Core Tip: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is among the most lethal malignancies worldwide, with minimal advancements in treatment over the past three decades. We report the case of a patient with highly malignant PC who demonstrated a poor response to chemotherapy. However, immunotherapy and targeted therapy extended the patient's progression-free survival and improved her quality of life. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy may offer new hope for PC patients.
