Pembrolizumab in Treating Patients With Rare Tumors That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery or Are Metastatic (NCT02721732)

Usually NOT eligible if any of the following apply:

• Exclusion Criteria:
• Is currently participating and receiving study therapy or concurrent chemotherapy, immunotherapy, biologic, or hormonal therapy for cancer treatment at the time of administration of first dose of trial treatment; continuation of hormone replacement therapy is permitted; stable regimens of hormonal therapy i.e. for prostate cancer (e.g. leuprolide, a gonadotrophin releasing hormone \[GnRH\] agonist), ovarian, or breast cancer are not exclusionary
• Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving systemic steroid therapy or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment
• Has a known history of active TB (bacillus tuberculosis)
• Hypersensitivity to pembrolizumab or any of its excipients
• Has not recovered (i.e., =\< grade 1 or at baseline) 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 malignancy 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, and diseases for which the treatment could reasonably include pembrolizumab and are not part of the excluded tumor type list or not eligible for the phase I trial
• Has known active central nervous system (CNS) metastases and/or carcinomatous meningitis; subjects with previously treated brain metastases may participate provided they are stable (without evidence of progression by imaging for at least four weeks prior to the first dose of trial treatment and any neurologic symptoms have returned to baseline), have no evidence of new or enlarging brain metastases, and are not using steroids for at least 7 days prior to trial treatment; this exception does not include carcinomatous meningitis which is excluded regardless of clinical stability
• Has active autoimmune 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; immunosuppressive corticosteroid doses (\> 10 mg prednisone daily or equivalent) within 4 weeks prior to the first dose of pembrolizumab; Note: corticosteroids given within 24 hours of an imaging study for purposes of pre-medication in patients with hypersensitivity to radiologic contrast agents are allowed
• Has known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis
• Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy
• 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