PD-1 Inhibition to Determine CNS Reservoir of HIV-Infection
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03239899. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Background: HIV affects millions of people. The disease may "hide" in the brain, even in people with well-controlled HIV without cancer. Then it may "wake up" and continue. The drug pembrolizumab uses the body's immune system to fight cells like cancer cells. It is approved to treat some cancers but not HIV. Researchers want to see if it is safe for HIV-positive people without cancer. This study is not for HIV treatment; only one dose of the drug will be used. Objective: To learn if the drug pembrolizumab, used to treat certain cancers, is safe for HIV-positive people. Eligibility: Adults ages 18 and older with HIV who are in another NIH protocol Design: Participants will be screened with: * Medical history * Physical and neurological exams * Blood tests * Lumbar puncture. The lower back will be numbed. A needle will remove fluid from between back bones. * FDG-PET/CT. A radioactive sugar will be injected in a thin plastic tube (catheter) inserted in an arm vein. Participants will rest for an hour, urinate, then lie in the scanner. A mask will hold the head still. * Leukapheresis. An optional procedure at baseline. White blood cells are removed from you using a serum cell separator machine Women who can become pregnant cannot take pembrolizumab. Men who take it must use 2 kinds of contraception. Participants will have up to 7 more visits, which repeat some screening tests. At 1 visit, participants will get one dose of pembrolizumab by catheter for 30 minutes. They will get allergy and pain medicines. At 2 visits, participants will have a brain MRI. They will get a contrast agent by catheter. They will lie in a metal cylinder that takes pictures for 1-2 hours. They will get earplugs for loud sounds.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03239899
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 1
- Enrollment
- 13 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 120 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Apr 8, 2018
- Primary completion
- Feb 12, 2023
- Completion
- Feb 12, 2023
- Last update posted
- Oct 1, 2025
2018 – 2023
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health Clinical Center | Bethesda | Maryland | 20892 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03239899, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Oct 1, 2025 · Synced Sep 3, 2026
Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.
Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03239899 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.