# NRG-GY018: pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy in advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-nrg-gy018-nejm-2023/  
OnCo record `paper-nrg-gy018-nejm-2023` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Adding pembrolizumab to carboplatin-paclitaxel and continuing it as maintenance cut the risk of progression by 70 percent in mismatch repair-deficient endometrial cancer and by 46 percent in mismatch repair-proficient disease.

## Summary

Phase 3 placebo-controlled trial of 816 patients with measurable stage III to IVA, stage IVB or recurrent endometrial cancer randomised to pembrolizumab or placebo with carboplatin-paclitaxel followed by up to 14 maintenance cycles, analysed separately by mismatch repair status.

In mismatch repair-deficient disease, 12-month progression-free survival was 74 versus 38 percent (hazard ratio 0.30); in proficient disease median progression-free survival was 13.1 versus 8.7 months (hazard ratio 0.54).

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
- Year: 2023
- DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2302312
- Authors: Eskander RN, Sill MW, Beffa L, et al.
- Findings: Mismatch repair-deficient: progression-free survival hazard ratio 0.30.; Mismatch repair-proficient: median progression-free survival 13.1 vs 8.7 months; hazard ratio 0.54.
- What it means: Together with RUBY, this trial made chemo-immunotherapy the first-line standard for advanced endometrial cancer in both molecular groups, with the largest effect in mismatch repair-deficient tumours.
- Caveats: Overall survival data were immature at first report.; Excluded carcinosarcoma, unlike RUBY.

## Sources

- N Engl J Med 2023: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2302312
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36972022/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/advanced-recurrent-endometrial-cancer/), [Endometrial cancer with no specific molecular profile](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial-nsmp/), [Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial-mmr-deficient/)
- drugs: [Pembrolizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/pembrolizumab/)
- journals: [New England Journal of Medicine](https://onco.cc/journals/nejm/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-nrg-gy018-nejm-2023.json