Trial reportInternational journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics2021
A Randomized Phase 2 Study of Pembrolizumab With or Without Radiation in Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma.
Trial report in International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
66 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Combining radiotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic cancers: a 25-year review of safety outcomes by the ENRSO Group.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Stereotactic radiosurgery for intracranial and spinal adenoid cystic carcinoma: systematic review and illustrative case presentation.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Optimal early endpoint for second-line or subsequent immune checkpoint inhibitors in previously treated advanced solid cancers: a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Systemic therapy in the management of metastatic or locally recurrent adenoid cystic carcinoma of the salivary glands: a systematic review of the last decade.British journal of cancer · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors with or without radiotherapy in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Prognostic role of PD-L1 expression in patients with salivary gland carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Rare Tumours: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- Single-fraction or multi-fraction stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy followed by atezolizumab in advanced triple-negative breast cancer: a randomized phase II trial.Nature communications · 2026Trial
- Elraglusib, a Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β Inhibitor, plus Chemotherapy with or without Immunotherapy in Patients with Recurrent, Metastatic Salivary Gland Carcinoma.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026Trial
- Cell-free DNA as a complementary marker of therapeutic futility in adenoid cystic carcinoma.Oral oncology · 2025Trial
- Phase II Study of Nivolumab and Ipilimumab for Treatment of Metastatic/Recurrent Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC) of all Anatomic Sites of Origin and Other Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors.Cancer medicine · 2025Trial
- Nivolumab plus ipilimumab in advanced salivary gland cancer: a phase 2 trial.Nature medicine · 2023Trial
- Phase II Clinical Trial of Axitinib and Avelumab in Patients With Recurrent/Metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2023Trial
- Article
- Article
- Towards a personalized utilization of stereotactic body radiotherapy for the management of liver metastases in solid tumors.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2025Review
- YTHDFs as radiotherapy checkpoints in tumor immunity.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2025Review
- A macrophage-predominant immunosuppressive microenvironment and therapeutic vulnerabilities in advanced salivary gland cancer.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Safety and Efficacy of a Selective Inhibitor of Cyclin-dependent Kinase 9 (KB-0742) in Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma.Cancer research communications · 2025Article
- Reversible downregulation of HLA class I in adenoid cystic carcinoma.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2025Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeWe evaluated the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab (pembro) ± radiation therapy (RT) in a phase 2 study among patients with progressive, metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Eligible patients had metastatic ACC with progression within the last year and ≥1 measurable lesion. Patients were randomized to pembro alone or with RT to 30 Gy in 5 fractions (pembroRT). The primary endpoint was objective response rate outside the RT field. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and local RT responses.
resultsWe randomized 20 patients (10 per arm) from 2017 to 2018. We did not observe objective response outside of the radiation treatment field; stable disease (SD) was the best response in 12 (60%) patients and was not different per arm (7 pembro, 5 pembroRT, P = .65). A tumor growth rate decrease (TGR) of >25% was noted among 7 of 12 patients and >75% in 4 patients. There were local responses in the irradiated field among all evaluable pembroRT patients. Median PFS and OS were 4.5/not reached for pembroRT and 6.6 / 27.2 months for pembro patients. One patient developed grade 3 liver enzyme elevation after 27 cycles of therapy. Correlative analyses confirm low levels of programmed death-ligand 1 expression (PD-L1), and CD8 infiltrating T-cells. We identified associations between local response and both MYB/NFIB translocation and PD-L1 expression and between changes in systemic immune populations and RT.
conclusionsPembrolizumab and pembroRT were well tolerated. We observed no objective responses, but 60% of patients with PD before the study achieved SD, the majority with decreased TGR and half (n = 10) with clinical benefit (SD >6 months). We observed favorable local responses within the RT field. Additional strategies are needed to further delay progression and effect response.
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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.