{"entity":{"id":"paper-brahmer-anti-pd-l1-phase-1-nejm-2012","kind":"paper","name":"Safety and activity of anti-PD-L1 antibody in patients with advanced cancer","aka":[],"tldr":"The first PD-L1 antibody trial treated 207 people across several cancers; melanoma, kidney and lung cancers responded, and none of the 14 pancreatic cancer patients did.","summary":"In a multicentre phase 1 trial, intravenous anti-PD-L1 antibody at 0.3 to 10 mg/kg was given every 14 days in 6-week cycles for up to 16 cycles to patients with selected advanced cancers. Of 207 patients, 75 had non-small-cell lung cancer, 55 melanoma, 18 colorectal, 17 renal cell, 17 ovarian, 14 pancreatic, 7 gastric and 4 breast cancer. Grade 3 or 4 treatment-related toxicity occurred in 9%. Objective responses were seen in 9 of 52 melanoma, 2 of 17 renal cell, 5 of 49 lung and 1 of 17 ovarian patients; no pancreatic responses were reported.","asOf":"2026-09-24","links":[{"label":"Brahmer et al., N Engl J Med 2012: anti-PD-L1 in 207 patients, none of 14 pancreatic responded","url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1200694"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22658128/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["pancreatic","metastatic-pdac"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":["pdl1"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["pd1-checkpoint"],"terms":["cold-vs-hot"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["nejm"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2012,"doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa1200694","pmid":"22658128","authors":"Brahmer JR, Tykodi SS, Chow LQ, et al.","paperType":"rct","findings":["Objective responses in melanoma, renal cell, lung and ovarian cancer.","None of the 14 pancreatic cancer patients responded."],"whatItMeans":"The trial that opened the PD-L1 era for other cancers is also the first evidence that pancreatic cancer would be left out of it.","caveats":["Fourteen pancreatic patients, unselected.","Early dose-finding design."],"changedPractice":true,"participants":207},"route":"/key-papers/paper-brahmer-anti-pd-l1-phase-1-nejm-2012/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"metastatic-pdac","kind":"cancer","name":"Metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/metastatic-pdac/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"}],"target":[{"id":"pdl1","kind":"target","name":"PD-L1","route":"/targets/pdl1/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"pd1-checkpoint","kind":"pathway","name":"PD-1 / PD-L1 immune checkpoint & T-cell activation","route":"/pathways/pd1-checkpoint/"}],"term":[{"id":"cold-vs-hot","kind":"term","name":"Hot vs cold tumours","route":"/terms/cold-vs-hot/"}],"journal":[{"id":"nejm","kind":"journal","name":"New England Journal of Medicine","route":"/journals/nejm/"}]}}