Pembrolizumab Plus Radiation Fails to Improve Recurrence-Free Survival in Early-Stage High-Intermediate-Risk dMMR Endometrial Cancer
A phase 3 clinical trial has found that adding pembrolizumab to radiation therapy does not improve recurrence-free survival for patients with early-stage, high-intermediate-risk dMMR endometrial cancer. Researchers concluded that radiation alone remains the standard of care due to higher toxicity in the combination group.
Why it matters
This study provides critical clinical guidance for oncologists, preventing the unnecessary use of expensive and potentially toxic immunotherapy in this specific patient population.
The addition of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to adjuvant radiation therapy did not significantly improve the proportion of patients free from recurrence at 3 years compared with radiation alone in patients with newly diagnosed, early-stage, high-intermediate–risk, mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) endometrioid endometrial cancer, according to findings from the phase 3 NRG-GY020 trial (NCT04214067) presented at the 2026 ESMO Congress.1
Toxicity was higher with the combination, and investigators concluded that radiation alone remains the standard of care in this population.
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