Trial reportJournal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology2025
Pembrolizumab Plus Docetaxel Versus Docetaxel for Previously Treated Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: The Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase III KEYNOTE-921 Trial.
Trial report in Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03834506 (A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind Study of Pembrolizumab), which is not on this map. Cited by 48 papers, 3 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.
A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind Study of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) Plus Docetaxel Plus Prednisone Versus Placebo Plus Docetaxel Plus Prednisone in Participants With Chemotherapy-naïve Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) Who Have Progressed on a Next Generation Hormonal Agent (NHA) (KEYNOTE-921)
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone for ARPI-pretreated and chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: a pooled analysis of KEYNOTE-921 and CheckMate 7DX trials.International urology and nephrology · 2026Pooled it
- Immunotherapeutic strategies for castration-resistant prostate cancer: A systematic review of mechanisms, clinical advances and emerging approaches.Molecular biology reports · 2026Pooled it
- Assessing the clinical outcomes of immunotherapy and docetaxel combinations in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: a meta-analysis.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Exploratory FDG PET/CT Imaging in mCRPC Patients Treated with Sipuleucel-T ± IL-7: A Phase II Trial Subanalysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Trial
- Phase 2 trial of pTVG-HP ± pTVG-AR DNA vaccines and pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Trial
- Current landscape and emerging trends of PD-1/PD-L1 research in prostate cancer: A data-driven atlas from multidatabase integration.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Clinical advances and practice updates in genitourinary cancers: a 2025 review from the multidisciplinary Spanish 'Cambados annual meeting'.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Why immunotherapy fails in prostate cancer and what comes next.BJU international · 2026Article
- Ineffectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in prostate cancer: is it just a question of '-mabs'?The Journal of pathology · 2026Review
- Ferroptosis at the Metabolic-Immune Interface in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Mechanistic Evidence, Translational Gaps, and Combination Strategies.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Review
- Association Between Biopsy PD-L1 Combined Positive Score and Pathological Upgrading at Radical Prostatectomy in Grade Group 1 Prostate Cancer: A Retrospective Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Fluid shear stress as a co-stimulatory cue to enhance T cell priming and restore activation in cancer patient T cells.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2026Article
- B7-H3 Gene Expression Shapes Prognosis and Therapeutic Opportunities across Patient Groups with Prostate Cancer.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026Article
- Neoadjuvant intraprostatic immunotherapy for high-risk localized prostate cancer.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- Multidimensional explanations and future perspectives on the limited efficacy of immunotherapy in prostate cancer.Asian journal of andrology · 2026Review
- Skin toxicity induced by chemotherapy or molecular targeted therapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors in Asian patients: A literature review by the Japanese Pharmacist-led Oncodermatology Study Team.International journal of clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Emerging evidence for sequencing and combining PSMA-based therapies in prostate cancer.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- 20 years of taxane therapy in prostate cancer - the past, present and future.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- Prevalence of adverse events following T-cell redirecting therapies in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: a pooled analysis.The oncologist · 2026Article
- Targeting prostate adenocarcinoma tumor microenvironment via cancer nanotheranostics: a comprehensive update on improved roadmap for disease diagnosis, therapy and management.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
26 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe standard of care for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) after second-generation androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) therapy is still docetaxel. The randomized, double-blind, phase III KEYNOTE-921 trial (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03834506) evaluated the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab or placebo plus docetaxel for previously treated mCRPC.
methodsAdults with mCRPC who progressed after androgen-deprivation therapy and one ARPI were randomly assigned 1:1 to pembrolizumab or placebo plus docetaxel with concomitant prednisone. Dual primary end points were radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) by blinded independent central review per Prostate Cancer Working Group 3-modified RECIST 1.1 and overall survival (OS). Safety was a secondary end point.
resultsBetween May 30, 2019, and June 17, 2021, 515 participants were randomly assigned to pembrolizumab plus docetaxel and 515 to placebo plus docetaxel. Median time from random assignment to data cutoff date (June 20, 2022) at final analysis (FA) was 22.7 months (range, 12.1-36.7). At first interim analysis (data cutoff date: September 27, 2021), median rPFS was 8.6 months (95% CI, 8.3 to 10.2) with pembrolizumab plus docetaxel versus 8.3 months (95% CI, 8.2 to 8.5) with placebo plus docetaxel (hazard ratio [HR], 0.85 [95% CI, 0.71 to 1.01];
conclusionThe addition of pembrolizumab to docetaxel did not significantly improve efficacy outcomes for participants with previously treated mCRPC. The current standard of care remains unchanged.
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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.