Pembrolizumab in Treating Patients With Rare Tumors That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery or Are Metastatic

Summary

This phase II trial studies how well pembrolizumab works in treating patients with rare tumors that cannot be removed by surgery or have spread to other parts of the body. Monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may block specific proteins found on white blood cells which may strengthen the immune system and control tumor growth.

Timeline

Start

2016-08-15

Primary completion

2028-12-31

Completion

2028-12-31

Publications

• Derbala MH, Stephen B, Hwang W, Ock CY, Hwang S, Hajjar J, Lee S, Zhou J, Gurses SA, Gouda MA, McGonagle KE, Alshawa A, Castillo L, Zarifa A, Fu S, Piha-Paul SA, Tsimberidou AM, Meric-Bernstam F, Solis Soto LM, Raso MG, Ali S, Naing A. Artificial intelligence-guided analysis of the tumor microenvironment predicts response to pembrolizumab in rare tumors. J Immunother Cancer. 2026 Jun 24;14(6):e014768. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2025-014768.
• Chahla B, Stephen B, Song J, Balderrama-Brondani V, Yaylaci F, Campbell MT, Naing A, Habra MA. Phase 2 Study of Monotherapy with Pembrolizumab for Advanced Adrenocortical Carcinoma. J Immunother Precis Oncol. 2025 Oct 6;8(4):242-248. doi: 10.36401/JIPO-25-6. eCollection 2025 Nov.
• Nardo M, Braganca Xavier C, Stephen B, How JA, Moyers J, Subbiah V, Hong DS, Naing A. Pembrolizumab in Patients with Advanced Miscellaneous Rare Cancers: Results from a Phase 2 Basket Trial. J Immunother Precis Oncol. 2025 Apr 10;8(2):143-151. doi: 10.36401/JIPO-24-27. eCollection 2025 May.
• Nze C, Msaouel P, Derbala MH, Stephen B, Abonofal A, Meric-Bernstam F, Tannir NM, Naing A. A Phase II Clinical Trial of Pembrolizumab Efficacy and Safety in Advanced Renal Medullary Carcinoma. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Jul 27;15(15):3806. doi: 10.3390/cancers15153806.
• Mendoza TR, Hong DS, Peterson CB, Stephen B, Dumbrava E, Pant S, Tsimberidou AM, Yap TA, Sheshadri A, Altan M, George G, Castillo L, Rodriguez E, Gong J, Subbiah V, Janku F, Fu S, Piha-Paul SA, Ahnert JR, Karp DD, Cleeland C, Meric-Bernstam F, Naing A. Patient-reported symptom burden in patients with rare cancers receiving pembrolizumab in a phase II Clinical Trial. Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 23;12(1):14367. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16588-3.
• Raghav KP, Stephen B, Karp DD, Piha-Paul SA, Hong DS, Jain D, Chudy Onwugaje DO, Abonofal A, Willett AF, Overman M, Smaglo B, Huey RW, Meric-Bernstam F, Varadhachary GR, Naing A. Efficacy of pembrolizumab in patients with advanced cancer of unknown primary (CUP): a phase 2 non-randomized clinical trial. J Immunother Cancer. 2022 May;10(5):e004822. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2022-004822.
• Pant S, Moyers JT, Naing A. Letter to the editor from Pant et al. J Immunother Cancer. 2021 Nov;9(11):e003991. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2021-003991. No abstract available.
• Ferrarotto R, Sousa LG, Qing Y, Kaya D, Stephen B, Jain D, Bell D, Pant S, Tsimberidou AM, Janku F, Blumenschein G, Glisson BS, Ahnert JR, Piha-Paul SA, Lee JJ, Wong MK, Lu C, Meric-Bernstam F, Naing A. Pembrolizumab in Patients with Refractory Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Phase II Trial. Adv Ther. 2021 Aug;38(8):4581-4591. doi: 10.1007/s12325-021-01807-6. Epub 2021 Jul 9.
• Hahn AW, Chahoud J, Campbell MT, Karp DD, Wang J, Stephen B, Tu SM, Pettaway CA, Naing A. Pembrolizumab for advanced penile cancer: a case series from a phase II basket trial. Invest New Drugs. 2021 Oct;39(5):1405-1410. doi: 10.1007/s10637-021-01100-x. Epub 2021 Mar 26.
• Tsimberidou AM, Vo HH, Subbiah V, Janku F, Piha-Paul S, Yilmaz B, Gong J, Naqvi MF, Tu SM, Campbell M, Meric-Bernstam F, Naing A. Pembrolizumab in Patients with Advanced Metastatic Germ Cell Tumors. Oncologist. 2021 Jul;26(7):558-e1098. doi: 10.1002/onco.13682. Epub 2021 Feb 12.
• Majd N, Waguespack SG, Janku F, Fu S, Penas-Prado M, Xu M, Alshawa A, Kamiya-Matsuoka C, Raza SM, McCutcheon IE, Naing A. Efficacy of pembrolizumab in patients with pituitary carcinoma: report of four cases from a phase II study. J Immunother Cancer. 2020 Dec;8(2):e001532. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001532.
• How JA, Jazaeri A, Westin SN, Sood AK, Ramondetta LM, Xu M, Abonofal A, Karp DD, Subbiah V, Stephen B, Rodon JA, Yang F, Naing A. The clinical efficacy and safety of single-agent pembrolizumab in patients with recurrent granulosa cell tumors of the ovary: a case series from a phase II basket trial. Invest New Drugs. 2021 Jun;39(3):829-835. doi: 10.1007/s10637-020-01043-9. Epub 2021 Jan 7.
• Frumovitz M, Westin SN, Salvo G, Zarifa A, Xu M, Yap TA, Rodon AJ, Karp DD, Abonofal A, Jazaeri AA, Naing A. Phase II study of pembrolizumab efficacy and safety in women with recurrent small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lower genital tract. Gynecol Oncol. 2020 Sep;158(3):570-575. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2020.05.682. Epub 2020 Jun 11.
• Tapia C, Aung PP, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Xu M, Ouyang F, Alshawa A, Hajjar J, Singh G, Yang V, Castillo L, Le H, Murthy R, Stephen B, Hess KR, Wistuba I, Naing A. Decrease in tumor content assessed in biopsies is associated with improved treatment outcome response to pembrolizumab in patients with rare tumors. J Immunother Cancer. 2020 Apr;8(1):e000665. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-000665.
• Naing A, Meric-Bernstam F, Stephen B, Karp DD, Hajjar J, Rodon Ahnert J, Piha-Paul SA, Colen RR, Jimenez C, Raghav KP, Ferrarotto R, Tu SM, Campbell M, Wang L, Sabir SH, Tapia C, Bernatchez C, Frumovitz M, Tannir N, Ravi V, Khan S, Painter JM, Abonofal A, Gong J, Alshawa A, McQuinn LM, Xu M, Ahmed S, Subbiah V, Hong DS, Pant S, Yap TA, Tsimberidou AM, Dumbrava EEI, Janku F, Fu S, Simon RM, Hess KR, Varadhachary GR, Habra MA. Phase 2 study of pembrolizumab in patients with advanced rare cancers. J Immunother Cancer. 2020 Mar;8(1):e000347. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2019-000347.
• Habra MA, Stephen B, Campbell M, Hess K, Tapia C, Xu M, Rodon Ahnert J, Jimenez C, Lee JE, Perrier ND, Boraddus RR, Pant S, Subbiah V, Hong DS, Zarifa A, Fu S, Karp DD, Meric-Bernstam F, Naing A. Phase II clinical trial of pembrolizumab efficacy and safety in advanced adrenocortical carcinoma. J Immunother Cancer. 2019 Sep 18;7(1):253. doi: 10.1186/s40425-019-0722-x.

Drugs

Indications