TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of Checkpoint Inhibitor Immunotherapy, Primarily Pembrolizumab, on Infection Risk in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer
T2 - A Comparative Retrospective Cohort Study
AU - Malek, Alexandre E.
AU - Khalil, Melissa
AU - Hachem, Ray
AU - Chaftari, Anne Marie
AU - Fares, Johny
AU - Jiang, Ying
AU - Kontoyiannis, Dimitrios P.
AU - Fossella, Frank
AU - Chaftari, Patrick
AU - Mulanovich, Victor E.
AU - Viola, George M.
AU - Raad, Issam I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - Background: Checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. However, immune-related adverse events and the risk of infections are not well studied. To assess the infectious risk of CPIs, we evaluated the incidence of infections in lung cancer patients treated with CPIs plus conventional chemotherapy (CC) vs CC alone. Methods: We performed a retrospective comparative study of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received CPIs combined with CC and those treated with CC alone at our institution during January 2016 to February 2019. We compared clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes including infection rate and mortality between the groups. Results: We identified 123 patients for the CPI group and 147 patients for the control (CC) group. Eighteen patients (15%) in the CPI group and 33 patients (22%) in the control group developed infections (P=.1). Pneumonia was the most common infection encountered in both groups. Urinary tract infection was higher in the CC group (40%) than in the CPI group (9%) (P=.01). On multivariable analysis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (P=.024), prior use of corticosteroids (P=.021), and neutropenia (P<.001) were independent risk factors for infection and severe infection requiring hospital admission. Chronic kidney disease (P=.02), prior cancer treatment (P=.023), and neutropenia (P<.0001) were identified as independent risk factors for all-cause mortality. Conclusions: Lung cancer patients treated with CPIs combined with CC have a comparable risk of infection to those treated with CC alone, although there is a trend towards fewer infections in those given CPIs, particularly when it comes to urinary tract infections.
AB - Background: Checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. However, immune-related adverse events and the risk of infections are not well studied. To assess the infectious risk of CPIs, we evaluated the incidence of infections in lung cancer patients treated with CPIs plus conventional chemotherapy (CC) vs CC alone. Methods: We performed a retrospective comparative study of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received CPIs combined with CC and those treated with CC alone at our institution during January 2016 to February 2019. We compared clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes including infection rate and mortality between the groups. Results: We identified 123 patients for the CPI group and 147 patients for the control (CC) group. Eighteen patients (15%) in the CPI group and 33 patients (22%) in the control group developed infections (P=.1). Pneumonia was the most common infection encountered in both groups. Urinary tract infection was higher in the CC group (40%) than in the CPI group (9%) (P=.01). On multivariable analysis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (P=.024), prior use of corticosteroids (P=.021), and neutropenia (P<.001) were independent risk factors for infection and severe infection requiring hospital admission. Chronic kidney disease (P=.02), prior cancer treatment (P=.023), and neutropenia (P<.0001) were identified as independent risk factors for all-cause mortality. Conclusions: Lung cancer patients treated with CPIs combined with CC have a comparable risk of infection to those treated with CC alone, although there is a trend towards fewer infections in those given CPIs, particularly when it comes to urinary tract infections.
KW - checkpoint inhibitor
KW - immunotherapy
KW - infection
KW - lung cancer
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U2 - 10.1093/cid/ciaa802
DO - 10.1093/cid/ciaa802
M3 - Article
C2 - 32564081
AN - SCOPUS:85097902398
SN - 1058-4838
VL - 73
SP - E2697-E2704
JO - Clinical Infectious Diseases
JF - Clinical Infectious Diseases
IS - 9
ER -