Background
NPC, head and neck cancer, non-metastatic
NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA, HEAD AND NECK CANCER, SOLID TUMORS
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a unique subtype of head and neck cancer and endemic in Southern China and Southeast Asia. Radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy is the fundamental treatment strategy for newly diagnosed non-metastatic patients. For metastatic or recurrent patients, platinum-based chemotherapy has been the standard treatment [In general, single-drug therapy is empirically given in the second-line or subsequent setting, such as 5-FU, paclitaxel, and methotrexate, with reported response rates of 30–40% [Other combined treatment options include inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and immune checkpoint blockade therapy. To date, in the field of EGFR inhibitors for treating platinum-refractory NPC, little progress has been made, as the results from previous studies failed to achieve satisfactory efficacy due to the small sample size [Apatinib is an oral small molecular tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that selectively binds with VEGFR2 with high affinity. Its encouraging anti-tumor effect has been shown in studies on various solid tumors, including head and neck cancer [