The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 NewsACR Convergence
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
      • Psoriatic Arthritis
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Reassuring Data on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Autoimmune Disease

Reassuring Data on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Autoimmune Disease

February 22, 2021 • By Reuters Staff

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with preexisting autoimmune disease (AIDs) are not at increased risk for immune-related adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy, although these adverse events may be more likely in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), new research indicates.

You Might Also Like
  • Study Assesses Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Safety in Rheumatic Disease
  • Check It Out: Understanding Immune-Related Adverse Events from Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Checkpoint Inhibitors May Be Retried after Immune Adverse Event, with Close Monitoring

“Therefore, we encourage physicians not to withhold ICI in most common AIDs. However, close monitoring in patients with IBD is advised because the incidence of severe colitis and early discontinuation of treatment due to toxicity was higher in this group,” Ellen Kapiteijn, MD, PhD, with Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands, and colleagues advise in Annals of Internal Medicine.1

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Because ICIs can cause immune-related adverse events (irAEs) mimicking immunologic diseases, patients with preexisting AIDs were excluded from clinical trials, they explain.

The researchers evaluated the safety and efficacy of ICI therapy in patients with advanced melanoma with and without AID, using the Dutch Melanoma Treatment Registry.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

A total of 415 patients (9.5%) had an AID, which was categorized as rheumatologic AID in 227, endocrine AID in 143, IBD in 55) and other in eight. Altogether, 228 of these patients (55%) received ICI therapy versus 2,546 (58%) patients who did not have an AID.

Objective response rates were similar in patients with vs. without AID who received anti-CTLA-4 therapy (10% vs 16%), anti-PD-1 therapy (40% vs. 44%), or the combination (39% vs. 43%). Survival rates were also similar in patients with and without AID (median, 13 months vs. 14 months).

According to the researchers, there was no difference in the incidence of irAEs of grade 3 or higher in patients with and without preexisting AID of rheumatologic or endocrine origin.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

The incidences of grade 3 or higher irAEs in patients with AID were 30% with anti-CTLA-4 therapy, 17% with anti-PD-1 therapy and 44% with combination therapy; for patients no AID, the incidences were 30%, 13% and 48%, respectively.

Patients with AID more often discontinued anti-PD-1 therapy due to toxicity than patients without AID (17% vs 9%). Patients with IBD were more prone to anti-PD-1-induced colitis (19%) than patients with other AIDs (3%) and patients without AID (2%).

The researchers say their findings suggest no need to withhold ICI therapy in patients with common AIDs, although close monitoring in cases of IBD is warranted.

Funding for the study was provided by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development.


Reference

  1. van der Kooij MK, Suijkerbuijk KPM, Aarts MJB, et al. Safety and efficacy of checkpoint inhibition in patients with melanoma and preexisting autoimmune disease: A cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Feb 16. Online ahead of print.

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Drug Updates Tagged With: adverse events, Autoimmune disease, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), immune-related adverse events

You Might Also Like:
  • Study Assesses Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Safety in Rheumatic Disease
  • Check It Out: Understanding Immune-Related Adverse Events from Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Checkpoint Inhibitors May Be Retried after Immune Adverse Event, with Close Monitoring
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors & Immune-Related Adverse Events

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use / Cookie Preferences

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2023 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)