Table 3.
Checkpoint inhibitors[54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,64,65] | Company | Target | Indication | Common selected irAEs | Management[58,60,61,64,65] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) | Roche/Genentech Ltd | PD-L1 | Metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer Advanced urothelial cancer |
Fatigue Diarrhea Fever Myalgias Hepatitis Pruritus Pneumonitis Dermatitis |
Baseline Perform a baseline assessment of thyroid studies, complete blood counts, liver function, and metabolic panels, grade, and document them prior to starting each treatment, and at intervals of 6-12 weeks for the first 6 months after completing treatment Document any co-morbid conditions Evaluate baseline radiological examinations Assess for history of autoimmune disease, which may worsen with starting a checkpoint inhibitor Inform patients and caregivers of potential irAEs before treatment initiation Infusion irAEs Assess for infusion related AEs Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion for grade 1 or 2 For grade 3 or 4, permanently, discontinue the treatment General management Assess for irAEs and manage according to grade, clinical guidelines or algorithms Fatigue irAEs Assess adenocorticotropic hormone, cortisol, and testosterone Assess treatable contributing factors (gastrointestinal, hepatic, and pulmonary irAEs) Assess psychosocial factors. Treatment may include physical activity, psychosocial interventions, mind-body interventions, and pharmacologic interventions Dermatologic irAEs Grade 1- Treat with topical emollients, oral antihistamines, and mild strength topical corticosteroids Grade 2- Topical emollients, oral antihistamines, median to high strength topical steroids Grade 3- Hold treatment, treat with topical emollients, oral antihistamines, high strength topical steroids or systemic corticosteroids depending on the severity of symptoms Grade 4- Hold treatment, hospital admission, dermatologist referral, intravenous methylprednisolone Gastrointestinal irAEs Assess complete blood count, serum electrolyte panel, stool analysis for enteropathogens, and Clostridium difficile Grade 1- Consider holding treatment, hydration, loperamide Grade 2- Hold treatment, intravenous methylprednisolone, consider infliximab if no response to steroids. If refractory to infliximab, consider vedolizumab Grade 3- Discontinue anti-CTLA-4, consider resuming anti-PD1/anti-PD-L1 after symptoms have resolved. Consider Gastrointestinal referral Grade 4- Discontinue treatment permanently, hospitalization Endocrine irAEs Thyroid 1. Check thyroid panel at baseline and prior to each treatment 2. Hormone replacement therapy for symptomatic hypothyroidism or TSH >10 3. Beta-blockers for symptomatic hyperthyroidism Diabetes mellitus Monitor blood glucose levels with each dose Lifestyle and diet modification as needed Endocrine referral if symptomatic or uncontrolled blood glucose levels Hepatic irAEs Evaluate liver function tests prior to starting every cycle of treatment Grade 2- Hold treatment, monitor liver function tests twice weekly If grade 2 lasts longer than 1-2 weeks, check for disease related causes, concomitant drug or alcohol administration, and infectious diseases Treat with corticosteroids Grade 3- Treatment should be permanently discontinued Start corticosteroids If no response to steroids, mycophenolate mofetil should be started Consider hepatologist referral and liver biopsy Pulmonary irAEs Grade 1- Hold treatment; re-evaluate in 1-2 weeks, repeat chest imaging after 3-4 weeks as needed Grade 2- Assess for infection, monitor every 3-7 days, if no improvement in 48-72 hours, start methylprednisolone Grade 3-4- Discontinue treatment permanently, hospital admission, referral to infectious disease Musculoskeletal irAEs Mild- Continue treatment, NSAIDS Moderate- Consider holding treatment, prednisone, consider rheumatology referral if symptoms do not improve Severe- Consider discontinuation of treatment, methylprednisolone and infliximab, and rheumatology referral |
Avelumab (Bavencio) | Merck | PD-L1 | Metastatic Merkel cell cancer | Fatigue Myalgias Colitis Infusion reaction Dermatitis, Hypothyroidism Hyperthyroidism Hyperglycemia Nephritis Hepatitis |
|
Durvalumab (Imfinzi) | Astra Zeneca |
PD-L1 | Unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer Urothelial cancer |
Fatigue Colitis Fever Myalgias |
|
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) | Bristol- Myers Squibb Co | CTLA-4 | Melanoma Combined with Nivolumab for treatment of advanced renal cell cancer, and microsatellite instability high or mismatch repair deficient metastatic colorectal cancer |
Fatigue Diarrhea Colitis Pruritus Myalgias Dermatitis Hepatitis | |
Nivolumab (Opdivo) | Bristol- Myers Squibb Co | PD-1 | Metastatic melanoma Metastatic non-small cell lung cancer Advanced renal cell cancer Metastatic urothelial cancer Classical Hodgkin lymphoma Recurrent/metastatic squamous cell cancer of the head and neck Hepatocellular cancer |
Fatigue Myalgias Dermatitis Diarrhea Hypothyroidism Colitis Hepatitis, Pneumonitis |
|
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) | Merck and Co Inc | PD-1 | Advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer Classical Hodgkin lymphoma Advanced gastric cancer Advanced melanoma Microsatellite instability-High cancer Advanced cervical cancer Head and neck squamous cell cancer Advanced urothelial bladder cancer Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma |
Fatigue Dermatitis Arthralgias Cough Hyperglycemia Hepatitis Pruritus |
irAEs: Immune-related adverse events, CTLA-4: Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4, NSAIDS: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, PD-1: Programmed cell death-1, TSH: Thyroid-stimulating hormone