Pembrolizumab, Paclitaxel, Carboplatin, and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage II-IIIB Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •Written informed consent and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) authorization for release of personal health information
• •Subjects with any kind of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) histology documented by histology or cytology from bronchial brushing or washing, or needle aspiration of a defined lesion but not from sputum cytology alone
• •Must have American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 7th edition (ed) inoperable stage II disease requiring chemoradiation therapy or stage IIIA or IIIB NSCLC based on appropriate staging studies including brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or head computed tomography (CT), CT chest, and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT scan
• •Be willing to provide tissue from a newly obtained core or excisional biopsy of a tumor lesion; newly-obtained is defined as a specimen obtained up to 8 weeks (56 days) before initiation of treatment on day 1; subjects for whom newly-obtained samples cannot be provided (e.g. inaccessible or subject safety concern) may submit an archived specimen only upon agreement from the sponsor or may undergo fine needle aspiration
• •Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 within 14 days before registration for protocol therapy
• •Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1,500/mcL
• •Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
• •Hemoglobin \>= 9 g/dL or \>= 5.6 mmol/L without transfusion or erythropoietin (EPO) dependency (within 7 days of assessment)
• •Serum creatinine OR measured or calculated creatinine clearance (glomerular filtration rate \[GFR\] can also be used in place of creatinine or creatinine clearance rate \[CrCl\]) =\< 1.5 X upper limit of normal (ULN) OR \>= 60 mL/min for subject with creatinine levels \> 1.5 X institutional ULN
• •Serum total bilirubin =\< 1.5 X ULN OR direct bilirubin =\< ULN for subjects with total bilirubin levels \> 1.5 ULN
• •Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\]) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 X ULN OR =\< 5 X ULN for subjects with liver metastases
• •Albumin \>= 2.5 mg/dL
• •International normalized ratio (INR) or prothrombin time (PT) =\< 1.5 X ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or partial thromboplastin time (PTT) is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants
• •Activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) =\< 1.5 X ULN unless subject is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT or PTT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants
• •Forced expiratory volume \>= 1.0 L or \>= 40% of predicted with or without bronchodilators by pulmonary function testing
• •Women of childbearing potential should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy within 72 hours prior to receiving the first dose of study medication; if the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required
• •Women of childbearing potential should be willing to use 2 methods of birth control or be surgically sterile, or abstain from heterosexual activity for the course of the study through 120 days after the last dose of study medication; subjects of childbearing potential are those who have not been surgically sterilized or have not been free from menses for \> 1 year
• •Male subjects should agree to use an adequate method of contraception starting with the first dose of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of study therapy
• •Have measurable disease based on Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1