Safety and Immunological Effect of Pembrolizumab in Resectable or Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The purpose of this clinical trial is to study an experimental drug called pembrolizumab or
MK-3475 for use in combination with chemotherapy and radiation therapy for patients with
resectable (surgical removal) or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. In general,
pancreatic cancer that cannot be removed by surgery is sometimes treated with chemotherapy
and radiation therapy, called neoadjuvant treatment, to shrink the tumor so that surgery
might be possible. However, this is not always effective at shrinking the tumor enough to
allow it to be removed with surgery. Recent discoveries suggest that the investigators own
immune system might have a role in controlling the growth of tumors. Drugs such as
pembrolizumab can stimulate the immune system against cancer. The purpose of this study is to
investigate whether pembrolizumab can be used safely during neoadjuvant treatment and can
improve the body's immune response against pancreatic cancer.
Pembrolizumab has been approved for treatment of patients with melanoma but has not been
proven to be safe or helpful in patients with pancreatic cancer and is not approved by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this purpose.