[Managing the Adverse Effects Related to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors]

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become the new posterchild of cancer treatment in recent years largely due to their impressive clinical efficacy. Drugs targeting cytotoxic T- lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibodies, e.g., ipilimumab (Yervoy®), pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), and nivolumab (Opdivo®), reinvigorate cytotoxic T cells to kill cancer cells in patients. Despite the impressive clinical benefits, ICIs may induce immune-related adverse events (irAE) of the skin, gastrointestinal tract, liver, endocrine, and lung with a wide spectrum of severity. Rare but severe irAEs of critical organs such as the heart and central nervous system have also been reported. Clinical practitioners must recognize the early signs and symptoms of irAE as well as related management strategies.