Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41652014›Full record

ArticleCommunications medicine2026

Pembrolizumab and epigenetic modification with azacitidine reshapes the tumor microenvironment of platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer: a phase 2 non-randomized clinical trial.

Blair V Landon, Julia L Boland, Andrea E Wahner Hendrickson, Deborah K Armstrong, Boris Winterhoff, Jaime Wehr, Akshaya V Annapragada, Christopher Cherry, Archana Balan, Guneet Kaleka and 7 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Communications medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02900560 (Phase II Randomized Study of Pembrolizumab With or Without Epigenetic Modulation With CC-486 in Patients With Platinum-resistant Epithelial Ovarian, Fallopian Tube or Primary Peritoneal Cancer), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT02900560 phase2terminatednot on this map

Phase II Randomized Study of Pembrolizumab With or Without Epigenetic Modulation With CC-486 in Patients With Platinum-resistant Epithelial Ovarian, Fallopian Tube or Primary Peritoneal Cancer

TypeinterventionalSponsorTranslational Research in OncologyRan2016 to 2021Enrolled34ConditionsEpithelial Ovarian CancerArmsCC-486, Pembrolizumab
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Blair V Landon *Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5235-7410
Julia L Boland *Department of Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5637-2696
Andrea E Wahner HendricksonDepartment of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Deborah K ArmstrongDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Boris WinterhoffDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Jaime WehrDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Akshaya V AnnapragadaDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9097-6511
Christopher CherryDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Archana BalanDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Guneet KalekaDepartment of Medicine, UCLA-Olive View Medical Center, Sylmar, CA, USA.
Victor E VelculescuDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1195-438X
Stephen B BaylinDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3697-3798
Cynthia A ZahnowDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Dennis J SlamonDepartment of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Gottfried E KonecnyDepartment of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Valsamo AnagnostouDepartment of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. vanagno1@jhmi.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9480-3047
John A GlaspyDepartment of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. JGlaspy@mednet.ucla.edu.

Funding

Genome-wide approaches to non-invasive screening and characterization of ovarian cancersF30CA294612 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI Akshaya Vijaya Annapragada · 2024 to 2026
$164k
NCI NIH HHS F30 CA294612U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Cancer Institute (NCI) CA121113
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEpigenetic modulators may sensitize platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC) to immune checkpoint inhibition by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment.

methodsWe report clinical and translational findings from a phase II non-randomized study of pembrolizumab and oral azacitidine in 34 women with PROC (NCT02900560). Key eligibility criteria included age 18 years or older, performance status of 0-1, measurable disease, platinum-resistant disease and histologically confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube carcinoma or primary peritoneal carcinoma. Primary endpoints included safety, tolerability, overall response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR). Secondary endpoints included CA-125 response. The effect of combined epigenetic and immunotherapy was evaluated by transcriptomic analyses of 72 serially biopsied tumors.

resultsWe show that the combination is moderately well tolerated and most common grade 3-4 adverse events are gastrointestinal side effects and anemia. ORR is 2.9% and DCR is 50%; with 3 of the 27 evaluable patients attaining a CA-125 response. Differential gene expression analyses reveal an upregulation of inflammatory and cytolytic genes and co-inhibitory checkpoints 6 weeks on-therapy. Upregulation of interferon signaling, antigen presentation and immune cell adhesion and migration gene sets are prominent on-therapy, together with an increase in density of CD8 + T-cells. Patients with a CA-125 and/or clinical response show an enrichment of adaptive and conserved immune response gene sets on-therapy.

conclusionsOur findings highlight the potential of epigenetic modulators to re-shape the tumor microenvironment of PROC toward a more inflammed phenotype and may point to approaches to augment immunotherapy response.

Identifiers

PMID41652014
PMCPMC12988192

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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.