Immunotherapy-Chemo combo takes on advanced sarcoma
NCT ID NCT04577014
First seen Jun 24, 2026 · Last updated Sep 09, 2026 · Updated 3 times
Summary
This study tests whether adding an experimental immunotherapy drug called retifanlimab to standard chemotherapy (gemcitabine and docetaxel) is safe and effective for people with advanced soft tissue sarcoma that cannot be removed by surgery. About 98 participants will receive the combination. The main goal is to see how many patients are still alive without their cancer getting worse after 24 weeks.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- retifanlimab (immunotherapy) plus gemcitabine and docetaxel (chemotherapy)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this combination could offer a new treatment option that helps control advanced soft tissue sarcoma for longer than chemotherapy alone.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early-phase trial (Phase 1/2) with a small number of participants. The immunotherapy may not improve outcomes and could cause immune-related side effects.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 1/2
Runs two stages together: safety and dose first, then whether the treatment works.
- Participants
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About 98 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Sep 2020
- Expected to finish
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Sep 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosis of metastatic or locally advanced and unresectable high-grade soft tissue sarcoma. Unresectable is defined as: 1. primary tumor cannot be safely removed surgically, or 2. primary tumor would benefit from systemic therapy prior to a surgical approach * Be willing and able to provide written informed consent * Must consent to mandatory tumor biopsy (if deemed safe and feasible) for research studies at screening, if archival tissue is not available, and at C1D15, C3D15. * Age ≥ 18 years * ECOG performance status ≤ 1 * Presence of measurable disease per RECIST v1.1 * Target lesions must not be chosen from a previously irradiated field unless there has been radiographically and/or pathologically documented tumor progression in that lesion prior to enrollment. * No prior systemic therapy (see exclusion criteria, below) * Negative serum pregnancy test in women of childbearing potential * Patients with chronic HBV (HBsAg-positive with undetectable or low HBV DNA and normal ALT, or HBsAg-negative with anti-HBc-positive serology) and HCV (completed curative antiviral treatment with HCV viral load below the limit of quantification) may be eligible * Patients with HBV should be treated with suppressive antiviral therapy prior to enrollment * Patients with HCV must have completed curative therapy and have negative HCV viral load * Adequate organ function, as defined in Table 2: Table 2: Laboratory Parameters Required for Study Inclusion Hematological Absolute neutrophil count (ANC): ≥ 1,500 /mcL Platelets: ≥ 75,000 / mcL Hemoglobin: ≥ 9g/dL or ≥ 5.6 mmol/L Renal Serum creatinine: ≤ 1.5 X upper limit of normal (ULN) OR Measured or calculated creatinine clearance: ≥ 60 mL/min for patient with creatinine levels \> 1.5 X institutional ULN (GFR can also be used in place of creatinine orCrCl) Hepatic Serum total bilirubin: ≤ 1.5 X ULN OR Direct bilirubin ≤ ULN for patients with total bilirubin levels \> 1.5 ULN except patients with Gilbert's disease (≤ 3x ULN) AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT): ≤ 2.5 X ULN OR ≤ 5 X ULN for patients with liver metastases Exclusion Criteria: * Received any systemic therapy in the advanced or metastatic setting * Adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapies received ≥ 1 year prior to enrollment are permitted * Unstable or deteriorating cardiovascular disease within the previous 6 months, including: * Unstable angina or myocardial infarction * CVA/stroke * New York Heart Association \[NYHA\] Class III or IV congestive heart failure * Uncontrolled clinically significant arrhythmias * Current use of immunosuppressive medication, EXCEPT for the following: * Intranasal, inhaled, topical steroids, or local steroid injection (e.g., intra-articular injection) * Systemic corticosteroids at physiologic doses ≤ 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent * Steroids as premedication for hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., CT scan premedication) * Evidence of clinically significant immunosuppression such as the following: * Primary immunodeficiency state such as Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease * Concurrent opportunistic infection * Receiving systemic immunosuppressive therapy (\> 2 weeks) including oral steroid doses \> 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent within 2 months prior to enrollment * History or evidence of symptomatic autoimmune disease in past 2 years prior to enrollment. * Replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine for hypothyroidism, insulin for diabetes or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency) is not considered a form of systemic treatment for autoimmune disease * Uncontrolled HIV infection, as defined by one or more of the following: * Patients with CD4+ T-cell (CD4+) counts \< 350 cells/uL * Patients with a history of an opportunistic infection secondary to AIDS * Patients on anti-microbials with drug-drug interactions with the study drugs on this protocol, who cannot be switched to alternative anti-microbials * Patients on antiretroviral therapy \< 4 weeks * Patients with HIV viral load \> 400 copies/mL * Active Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C * Patients who have received a live vaccine within 30 days of the start date of the planned study therapy (with the exception of COVID-19 vaccines) * History of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis) * Radiation therapy within 2 weeks prior to study day 1 * If patient received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy * Women who are pregnant or breast feeding * Patients expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the visit through 180 days after the last dose of study treatment(s) * Prior organ transplantation including allogenic stem-cell transplantation * Active infection requiring systemic therapy * Known prior severe hypersensitivity to investigational product or any component in its formulations, including known severe hypersensitivity reactions to monoclonal antibodies (NCI CTCAE v5.0 Grade ≥ 3) * Patients with prior history of interstitial lung disease and clinically significant pulmonary compromise, including those who have a requirement for supplemental oxygen use to maintain adequate oxygenation
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
RECRUITINGNew York, New York, 10065, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can a Blood-Flow-Blocking drug stall a rare sarcoma?
- Can a dual immune antibody plus radiation shrink metastatic sarcoma?
- Can a new drug shrink advanced solid tumors?
- Can a coordinated care team reduce severe side effects in older cancer patients?
- Can repeated MRI scans reveal how tumors respond to radiation?
- Can a new antibody help the immune system fight Hard-to-Treat tumors?