Trial reportClinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research2021
Randomized Phase II and Biomarker Study of Pembrolizumab plus Bevacizumab versus Pembrolizumab Alone for Patients with Recurrent Glioblastoma.
Trial report in Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 200 papers, 14 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
200 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 246 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors and mTOR inhibitors as targeted therapy for glioblastoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Neurosurgical review · 2026Pooled it
- Identifying the best treatment choice for relapsing/refractory glioblastoma: a systematic review with multiple Bayesian network meta-analyses.The oncologist · 2025Pooled it
- Anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies for glioma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Advancements and challenges: immunotherapy therapy in high-grade glioma - a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review of immunotherapy in high-grade glioma: learning from the past to shape future perspectives.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024Pooled it
- Glioblastoma Immunotherapy: A Systematic Review of the Present Strategies and Prospects for Advancements.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Molecular Targeted Therapies for Adult-Type Diffuse Glioma: An Analysis of Clinical and Laboratory Studies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Objective response rate targets for recurrent glioblastoma clinical trials based on the historic association between objective response rate and median overall survival.Neuro-oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Emerging trends and thematic evolution of immunotherapy for glioma based on the top 100 cited articles.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy for recurrent high-grade glioma: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 in treatment of glioma: a single-arm meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Pooled it
- Impact of molecular and clinical variables on survival outcome with immunotherapy for glioblastoma patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review on PD-1 Blockade and PD-1 Gene-Editing of CAR-T Cells for Glioma Therapy: From Deciphering to Personalized Medicine.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Tumor-Infiltrating CD8Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- Laser interstitial thermal therapy and adjuvant pembrolizumab in recurrent high-grade astrocytoma: a Phase 1/randomized Phase 2b trial.Nature communications · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Oncolytic DNX-2401 virotherapy plus pembrolizumab in recurrent glioblastoma: a phase 1/2 trial.Nature medicine · 2023Trial
- Circulating Immune Cell and Outcome Analysis from the Phase II Study of PD-L1 Blockade with Durvalumab for Newly Diagnosed and Recurrent Glioblastoma.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2022Trial
- Glioma microenvironment: Cellular crosstalk, immunosuppression, and novel therapeutic perspectives.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- The intersection of chemokine signaling with the hallmarks of cancer in glioblastoma.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2026Review
140 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
22 authors at 10 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeVEGF is upregulated in glioblastoma and may contribute to immunosuppression. We performed a phase II study of pembrolizumab alone or with bevacizumab in recurrent glioblastoma. PATIENTS AND
methodsEighty bevacizumab-naïve patients with recurrent glioblastoma were randomized to pembrolizumab with bevacizumab (cohort A,
resultsPembrolizumab alone or with bevacizumab was well tolerated but of limited benefit. For cohort A, PFS-6 was 26.0% [95% confidence interval (CI), 16.3-41.5], median overall survival (OS) was 8.8 months (95% CI, 7.7-14.2), objective response rate (ORR) was 20%, and median duration of response was 48 weeks. For cohort B, PFS-6 was 6.7% (95% CI, 1.7-25.4), median OS was 10.3 months (95% CI, 8.5-12.5), and ORR was 0%. Tumor immune markers were not associated with OS, but worsened OS correlated with baseline dexamethasone use and increased posttherapy plasma VEGF (cohort A) and mutant
conclusionsPembrolizumab was ineffective as monotherapy and with bevacizumab for recurrent glioblastoma. The infrequent radiographic responses to combinatorial therapy were durable. Tumor immune biomarkers did not predict outcome. Baseline dexamethasone use and tumor MGMT warrant further study as potential biomarkers in glioblastoma immunotherapy trials.
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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.