Study Finds Common Immune Signatures in Patients Who Develop Adverse Effects from Immunotherapy

A study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy suggests that “distinct immune ‘signatures’ in patients who develop adverse events while taking immunotherapy for cancer may help oncologists identify patients at risk and treat them early to prevent serious side effects.”

The study included a diverse sample of 111 patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. 40% of patients “developed immune-related adverse effects,” and those patients were “more likely to have received a combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors and to have a history of autoimmune disease. Researchers also discovered a distinct immune ‘signature’ in patients who later developed adverse events.”

A subset of patients who receive immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat cancer “develop devastating adverse effects that can cause lasting disability or even death. For patients with advanced cancer who have exhausted other treatment options, immunotherapy is often worth the risk.”

These researchers found that increases in Th2 and Th17, which are types of white blood cells, “were an early warning signal for impending adverse effects. They also observed that rising levels of the cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6), an anti-inflammatory protein released by immune cells, was the strongest predictor of which patients would develop an immune-related adverse event. Higher levels of IL-6 were also related to worse cancer therapy outcomes.”