# Phase III trial of chemoradiotherapy with temozolomide plus nivolumab or placebo for newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated MGMT promoter

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-lim-neuro-oncol/  
OnCo record `paper-lim-neuro-oncol` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one trial page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 35511454 and published in Neuro-Oncology; the citing page links this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Background: Nearly all patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma experience recurrence following standard-of-care radiotherapy (RT) + temozolomide (TMZ). The purpose of the phase III randomized CheckMate 548 study was to evaluate RT + TMZ combined with the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (NIVO) or placebo (PBO) in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated MGMT promoter (NCT02667587).

Methods: Patients (N = 716) were randomized 1:1 to NIVO [(240 mg every 2 weeks × 8, then 480 mg every 4 weeks) + RT (60 Gy over 6 weeks) + TMZ (75 mg/m2 once daily during RT, then 150-200 mg/m2 once daily on days 1-5 of every 28-day cycle × 6)] or PBO + RT + TMZ following the same regimen. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients without baseline corticosteroids and in all randomized patients.

Results: at December 22, 2020, median (m)PFS (blinded independent central review) was 10.6 months (95% CI, 8.9-11.8) with NIVO + RT + TMZ vs 10.3 months (95% CI, 9.7-12.5) with PBO + RT + TMZ (HR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9-1.3) and mOS was 28.9 months (95% CI, 24.4-31.6) vs 32.1 months (95% CI, 29.4-33.8), respectively (HR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9-1.3). In patients without baseline corticosteroids, mOS was 31.3 months (95% CI, 28.6-34.8) with NIVO + RT + TMZ vs 33.0 months (95% CI, 31.0-35.1) with PBO + RT + TMZ (HR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9-1.4). Grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse event rates were 52.4% vs 33.6%, respectively.

Conclusions: NIVO added to RT + TMZ did not improve survival in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated or indeterminate MGMT promoter. No new safety signals were observed.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 35511454 (DOI 10.1093/neuonc/noac116). Matched by DOI alone: one trial page cites this DOI among its external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Neuro-Oncology
- Year: 2022
- DOI: 10.1093/neuonc/noac116
- Authors: Lim M, Weller M, Idbaih A, et al.
- What it means: One trial page on OnCo cites this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing page listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Neuro Oncol 2022: https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noac116
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35511454/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/35511454

## Connected records

- trials: [CheckMate 548](https://onco.cc/trials/checkmate-548/)
- journals: [Neuro-Oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/neuro-oncology/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-lim-neuro-oncol.json