The prognostic impact of mild and severe immune-related adverse events in non-small cell lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a multicenter retrospective study

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become the backbone of treatment for most driver-mutation negative, advanced non-small cell lung cancers. ICIs have been approved both as monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy for front line management. While ICIs are generally regarded as well-tolerated, an unintended activation of the immune system can result in a variety of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which can limit their use in severe cases. In patients with NSCLC treated with ICI monotherapy, the occurrence of an irAE and the development of multisystem irAEs have been associated with improved clinical outcomes, suggesting irAE occurrence could have prognostic implications.1–4 However, in patients treated with combination immunotherapy plus chemotherapy, the correlation between irAEs and survival has not been completely elucidated.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective chart review of 94 patients with advanced NSCLC treated with a combination of ICI plus chemotherapy between 2015 and 2021 to evaluate for a correlation between irAE occurrence and overall survival (OS). Patients were divided into two groups: those who experienced at least one irAE and those who did not experience an irAE. To account for immortal time bias, we conducted landmark analyses at 12 and 24 weeks. We additionally investigated the impact of multisystem irAEs on clinical outcomes and described the profile of irAEs observed at our institution.ResultsAmong the 94 evaluable patients identified in our population, 43.6% experienced at least one irAE. Of those patients who experienced an irAE, 26 (63.4%) experienced a single irAE, 9 (22.0%) experienced 2 irAEs, and 6 (14.6%) experienced 3 or more irAEs. The most commonly observed irAEs were dermatitis followed by pneumonitis and colitis. In our cohort, patients with at least one irAE had significantly longer median OS (16.8 mos vs 9.8 mos) compared to those who did not experience an irAE (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.43–0.76, p=0.011) (figure 1). Landmark survival analyses at 12 and 24 weeks continued to support significant differences in median OS based on presence or absence of an irAE (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.24–0.46, and HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.21–0.60 respectively). Among patients with at least one irAE, the subset of patients who experienced multiple irAEs had further improved median OS compared to those with a single irAE.ConclusionsIn patients with advanced NSCLC treated with combination ICI plus chemotherapy, the occurrence of an irAE is associated with improved overall survival.ReferencesTeraoka S, Fujimoto D, Morimoto T, et al. Early Immune-related adverse events and association with outcome in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with Nivolumab: a prospective cohort study. Journal of Thoracic Oncology : Official Publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2017;12(12):1798–1805. doi:10.1016/j.jtho.2017.08.022.Ricciuti B, Genova C, De Giglio A, et al. Impact of immune-related adverse events on survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with nivolumab: long-term outcomes from a multi-institutional analysis. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology 2019;145(2):479–485. doi:10.1007/s00432-018-2805-3.Toi Y, Sugawara S, Kawashima Y, et al. Association of immune-related adverse events with clinical benefit in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer treated with nivolumab. The Oncologist. 2018;23(11):1358–1365. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2017-0384.Shankar B, Zhang J, Naqash AR, et al. Multisystem immune-related adverse events associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. JAMA Oncol 2020;6(12):1952–1956. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2020.5012Ethics ApprovalThis research study obtained ethics approval by the institutional review board at the University of Virginia, IRB# 19083.Abstract 803 Figure 1Overall Survival by presence or absence of an irAE in patients with advanced lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors plus chemotherapy

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Potential role of serum proteome in predicting immune-related adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.e21218 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e21218-e21218

Author(s):

Leeseul Kim ◽

Young Kwang Chae ◽

Chan Mi Jung ◽

Emma Yu ◽

Alice Daeun Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Adverse Events ◽

Small Cell Lung Cancer ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Small Cell ◽

Small Cell Lung ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Nsclc Patients

e21218 Background: Early recognition of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) of immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICI) is important. Circulating proteome reflects host response to diseases and is being explored as a marker for response to immunotherapy. We previously have reported that a serum-based proteomics test, Primary Immune Response (PIR) demonstrated a trend that PIR-sensitive patients are more likely to tolerate ICI treatment longer without developing irAEs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The VeriStrat test is another serum-based proteomic assay, which was reported to be predictive of survival outcomes for all treatment regimens and lines of therapy including ICI in NSCLC. We explored the associations between the VeriStrat test and developing irAEs in NSCLC patients treated with ICI. Methods: Data of 70 consented NSCLC patients treated with any regimens and lines of therapy including ICI were collected. Samples were grouped into either VeriStrat ‘Good’(VS-G) or VeriStrat ‘Poor’(VS-P). We analyzed the durations from the immunotherapy initiation to each episode of irAE and each irAE above grade 2 using log-rank test. IrAEs were graded according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0. Results: Among the 70 patients, 18 patients (25%) experienced one or more irAEs. There was no significant difference in ‘Time to first irAE’ between VS-G and VS-P (p = 0.72, HR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.29-2.32). Among 48 VS-G patients, 12(25%) had one or more irAE and 5(10%)had irAE graded over 2. Among 22 VS-P patients, 6(27%) had one or more irAE and 2(9%) had irAE graded over 2. There was no significant difference between VS-G and VS-P groups in the development of irAE and irAE graded over 2. Conclusions: There was no statistically significant association between the VeriStrat test and the development of irAEs. Further studies are warranted to investigate proper serum based proteomic assay to predict the development of irAE.

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Treatment- and immune-related adverse events of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced lung cancer

Bioscience Reports ◽

10.1042/bsr20192347 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jun Shao ◽

Chengdi Wang ◽

Pengwei Ren ◽

Yuting Jiang ◽

Panwen Tian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Adverse Events ◽

Small Cell Lung Cancer ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Small Cell ◽

Advanced Lung Cancer ◽

Small Cell Lung ◽

Organ Specific

Abstract Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) emerged as the preferred therapy in advanced lung cancer, understanding the treatment- and immune-related adverse events of these drugs is of great significance for clinical practice. Materials and methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and major conference proceedings were systematically searched for all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in lung cancer using PD-1/PD-L1/CTLA-4 inhibitors. The outcomes included treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) and several organ specific immune-related adverse events (IRAEs). Results: 24 RCTs involving 14,256 patients were included. There was a significant difference for ICI therapy in the incidence of any grade of TRAEs (RR: 0.90; 95%CI: 0.84–0.95; P=0.001) and a lower frequency of grade 3-5 of TRAEs (RR: 0.65; 95%CI: 0.51–0.82; P<0.001). Patients treated with ICI therapy in non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were less reported TRAEs than in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). A lower risk of TRAEs was favored by anti-PD-1 inhibitors over anti-PD-L1 antibodies and anti-CTLA-4 drugs. The most common organ specific IRAE was hypothyroidism that occurred 8.7%. The incidence of pneumonitis and hepatitis reached 4.5% and 4.0% respectively. Compared with patients treated in control arms, those treated with ICI drugs were at higher risk for each organ specific adverse event including colitis, hepatitis, pneumonitis, hypothyroidism and hypophysitis. Conclusions: ICI therapy was safer than chemotherapy, especially ICI monotherapy such as anti-PD-1 antibodies in NSCLC. Compared with standard treatments, ICI drugs increased the risk of organ-specific IRAEs, although the overall incidence remained low.

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Risk of CNS adverse events (CNS-AEs) for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma brain metastases (BM) treated with CNS radiation (CNS-RT) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs).

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2018.36.15_suppl.2010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. 2010-2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Edward Devitt ◽

Ralph Sumner Abraham ◽

Jacobi Hines ◽

Bethany J Horton ◽

Camilo E. Fadul ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Adverse Events ◽

Brain Metastases ◽

Small Cell Lung Cancer ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Small Cell ◽

Small Cell Lung ◽

Melanoma Brain Metastases

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Immune-related adverse events and outcomes during treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.38.15_suppl.e21662 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e21662-e21662

Author(s):

Javier López Gallego ◽

Pablo Ayala de Miguel ◽

Itziar Gorospe García ◽

Pablo René Rivera Vargas ◽

Andrea Posada Restrepo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Adverse Events ◽

Small Cell Lung Cancer ◽

Cell Lung Cancer ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Small Cell ◽

Small Cell Lung

e21662 Background: Immunotherapy of cancer has changed the paradigm of treatment of many tumours, specially non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The use of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) is associated in some patients with the development of new immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Our aim was to study if there is any correlation between the appearence of irAEs and the efficacy of ICI. Methods: We collected data of 104 patients diagnosed of advanced NSCLC and treated with ICI in monotherapy at our institution between December 2015 and December 2019. Several variables as clinical, tumour-related and therapeutical were included and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were performed. Results: Cohort of 84 men and 20 women, median age of 67 years and 86% with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status of 0-1. 89% were active or ex-smokers and 11% had never smoked. 60% of patients had adenocarcinoma histology, 39% scamous and 1% had not otherwise specified (NOS) carcinoma histology. 3% of patients had III-B stage at the moment of start of immunotherapy, 37% M1a, 30% M1b and 30% M1c. 2 patients had driver mutations in EGFR gene. 41% of patients had unknown PDL1 status; 14% had no PDL1 expression, 14% low expression and 31% high expression. 78% of patients had progressed to prior line of treatment, while 22% were treatment-naive. irAEs occured in 65% of patients; 12% developed grade 3 to 4 toxicities. More frequent irAEs were fatigue (54%) and rash (27%). Significant statistical variables in univariate analysis were included in multivariate analysis by Cox regression. The appearence of any grade of iRAE was associated with improved progression-free survival (PFS) (median 17.9 months vs 5.1 months; HR 7.12; p = 0.008). Those patients who experimented any grade of irAE were more likely to achieve stabilization or response than those who suffered progression of disease (HR 13.00; p < 0.001; 95% CI [3.47-48.78]. The use of corticosteroids during treatment with ICI was not related to the benefit of treatment. Conclusions: Appearence of immune-related adverse effects during treatment with ICI was associated with better outcomes in our population. The use of corticosteroids during immunotherapy didn´t have any deleterious effect on the efficacy of treatment.

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