Dr. Zamarin on the Role of Pembrolizumab in Endometrial Cancer

Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the role of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with endometrial cancer.

Ovarian cancer is not the only cancer that we treat with immunotherapy, explains Zamarin. Immunotherapy has been shown to be effective in endometrial cancer. Pembrolizumab has been FDA approved for microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) endometrial cancers or for any MSI-H tumor. There is preliminary evidence that was presented, demonstrating that even in a non-MSI-H population, these immune checkpoint inhibitors can work.

Preliminary data presented at ASCO demonstrated the combination of an immune checkpoint inhibitor with a targeted agent. According to Zamarin, when lenvatinib (Lenvima) was combined with pembrolizumab, the response rate was 50%.