ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT03469804KAPKEYUpdated Oct 21, 2019

Phase II Multicentric Study of Pembrolizumab in Classic or Endemic Kaposi's Sarcoma

A Phase 2 interventional study of Pembrolizumab in Kaposi Sarcoma and Progression, Disease, sponsored by Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris. Status unknown at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-10-21.

Sponsored by Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Oct 2019), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
17
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Classic and endemic Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) are lymphangio-proliferations associated with human herpes virus 8 (HHV8), which treatment is poorly codified. Chemotherapies give at best 30-60% of transient responses. While interferon responses are frequent, this drug is often poorly tolerated in elderly patients. Therefore new therapies are needed. Classic KS represents an ideal model for evaluating new drugs since patients do not receive concomitant immunosuppressive regimens nor antiviral therapies.

Pembrolizumab, an anti-PD1 monoclonal antibody has recently been shown to improve survival in several solid tumors. In KS few data are available on the role of PD1-PD-L1 axis. A significant PD-L1 expression on HHV8-associated pleural effusion lymphomas and on KS samples have been recently reported. Our experience in classical and endemic KS supports the role of this pathway with expression of PD-L1 by subpopulations of T cells but also NK cells in peripheral blood cells from these patients and expression of PD-L1 by tumor cells in KS lesions.

In this study we will evaluate the benefit and safety profile of pembrolizumab in classic and endemic KS.

02

Conditions studied

  • Kaposi Sarcoma
  • Progression, Disease
03

In context

Sarcoma, Kaposi

161 studies on the registry are indexed under Sarcoma, Kaposi; 24 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 17 is below the median of 30 across 114 interventional studies indexed under Sarcoma, Kaposi.

Browse Sarcoma, Kaposi studies →

Lead sponsor

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris is the lead sponsor of 3,592 studies on the registry; 1,033 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Classic or endemic confirmed KS
  • Progressive disease
  • KS with more than 10 lesions or involving more than one limb segment or with involvement >3% body surface
  • KS with at least 4 lesions ≥5mm
  • KS with at least 1 other cutaneous tumor available for repeated pharmacodynamics evaluation and be willing to provide tissue from cutaneous of a tumor lesion
  • At least 4 weeks washout for all KS specific therapies including chemotherapy and immunotherapy
  • Provide written, prior to the performance of any study specific procedures
  • Be ≥ 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent.
  • Have a performance status of 0 or 1 on the Performance Scale.
  • Demonstrate adequate organ function:

Hematological : (ANC) ≥1,000/mm3, ≥100,000 / mm3, ≥ 9 g/dL Renal: Calculated ≥40 mL/min (using Modification of diet in renal disease () formula) Hepatic: (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤ 2.5xULN, serum total ≤ 1.5xULN OR direct bilirubin ≤ for subjects with total bilirubin levels >1.5xULN.

  • Female subject of should have a negative serum pregnancy within 72 hours prior to receiving the first dose of study medication
  • Have a health insurance

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Has a known history of organ transplantation or (HIV 1/2 antibodies detected at selection) Is receiving systemic therapy or any other form of therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment.
  • Has KS with symptomatic visceral involvement unless no other therapeutic option is available Previously received treatments with an , anti-PD-L1, anti-PD-L2, anti-CTLA4 antibody or any other antibody or drug specifically targeting T-cell costimulation or immune checkpoint pathways.
  • Has a known history of active infectious hepatitis, type B ( detected) or C ( detected) or active TB (Tuberculosis Bacillus).
  • Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy.
  • Has to pembrolizumab or any of its .
  • Has had a prior anti-cancer monoclonal antibody (mAb) within last 4 weeks or who has not recovered (i.e., > Grade 1 at selection) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier.
  • Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 3 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., > Grade 1 at selection) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent (Note: Subjects with ≤ Grade 2 neuropathy are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study). (Note: If subject received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy).
  • Has a known additional that is progressing or requires active treatment. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin that has undergone potentially curative therapy or in situ cervical cancer.
  • Has active disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (eg., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment. Patients with vitiligo, type I diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, psoriasis non requiring systemic treatment are permitted to enroll.
  • Has active non-infectious pneumonitis or known history of non-infectious pneumonitis that required steroids, severe pulmonary disease or hypoxia
  • Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial.
  • Is pregnant or breastfeeding, or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, or not willing to use adequate methods from study Visit 1 throughout the study period up to 120 days after the last dose of study therapy.
  • Has received a within 30 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment or while participating in the trial.
  • Is currently participating or has participated in a study of an agent within 4 weeks of the first dose of treatment.
  • Has a history or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator.
  • Patient under guardianship or curators
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(26)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

PD-1, PD-L1 and checkpoint inhibitors

PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab, block them so the immune system can attack a cancer.

PD-L1 can also be measured in a tumour sample. Some scores count stained tumour cells only (TPS); others also count certain immune cells (CPS). The study names the score and the minimum it uses.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Excipients

The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
17 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Pembrolizumab

    Pembrolizumab Route: intravenous infusion Dose regimen: 200 mg per infusion every 3 weeks Duration of treatment: 6 months (8 cycles)

    Drug: Pembrolizumab

Interventions

  • Route: intravenous infusion Dose regimen: 200 mg per infusion every 3 weeks Duration of treatment: 6 months (8 cycles)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Best Overall Response Rate (BORR)

    Best Overall Response Rate (BORR) defined by the occurrence of complete response or partial response following AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) criteria recorded from the start of treatment until 6 months or the beginning of any other specific systemic therapy for KS if it occurs before 6 months

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Best overall response rate according to Physical Global Assessment (PGA)

    Best overall response rate according to Physical Global Assessment (PGA) score until 6 months or the beginning of any other specific systemic therapy for KS if it occurs before 6 months

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. Response rate according to ACTG and PGA criteria

    Time frame: 3 months

  3. Response rate according to ACTG and PGA criteria

    Time frame: 6 months

  4. Response rate on number of lesions

    Response rate on number of lesions and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 3 months

  5. Response rate on number of lesions

    Response rate on number of lesions and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 6 months

  6. Response rate on the size of target lesions

    Response rate on the size of target lesions and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 3 months

  7. Response rate on the size of target lesions

    Response rate on the size of target lesions and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 6 months

  8. Response rate on tumor infiltration of target lesions

    Response rate on tumor infiltration of target lesions and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 3 months

  9. Response rate on tumor infiltration of target lesions

    Response rate on tumor infiltration of target lesions and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 6 months

  10. Response rate on lymphedema

    Response rate on lymphedema (circumference, scale of 0 (absence) to 3 (painful or oozing)) at Month 3, Month 6 and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 3 months

  11. Response rate on lymphedema

    Response rate on lymphedema (circumference, scale of 0 (absence) to 3 (painful or oozing)) at Month 3, Month 6 and at best response as defined following ACTG criteria

    Time frame: 6 months

  12. Time to response

    Time to response defined as the time to first response recorded from the start of treatment

    Time frame: 6 months

  13. Time to progression

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Delyon J, Biard L, Renaud M, Resche-Rigon M, Le Goff J, Dalle S, Heidelberger V, Da Meda L, Toullec L, Carcelain G, Mourah S, Caillat-Zucman S, Allain V, Battistella M, Lebbe C. PD-1 blockade with pembrolizumab in classic or endemic Kaposi's sarcoma: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 2022 Apr;23(4):491-500. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00097-3. Epub 2022 Mar 10. PubMed 35279271 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Jul 2018 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Mar 2020, 20 months after the start.

Of 22 phase 2 interventional studies under Sarcoma, Kaposi, half reached primary completion within 72 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 46 and three quarters within 84. This study's planned 20 months is below that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Mar 12, 2018
First posted
Mar 19, 2018
StartActual
Jul 1, 2018
Primary completionEst.
Mar 20, 2020
CompletionEst.
Sep 20, 2020
Last update
Oct 21, 2019
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 21, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03469804
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Mar 19, 2018
Start date
Jul 1, 2018
Primary completion
Mar 20, 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 20, 2020 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 21, 2019

Study contacts

Celeste LEBBE, MD PhD
Contact
celeste.lebbe@aphp.fr
142499590 ext. +33
Matthieu RESCHE-RIGON, MD PhD
Contact
matthieu.resche-rigon@univ-paris-diderot.fr
142499742 ext. +33

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Oct 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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Studies of the drug tested here: Pembrolizumab

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