Bullous Lupus Under Nivolumab Treatment for Lung Cancer: A Case Report With Systematic Literature Review

Various immune-related adverse events (irAEs) have been reported to be associated with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors. We report a case of a patient with lung cancer treated with nivolumab who developed a bullous eruption and give a systematic review of the literature on irAEs in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors for lung cancer.

A patient with lung adenocarcinoma developed a non-specific skin lesion at the time of his cancer diagnosis followed by flare episodes until the eighth cycle of nivolumab, when he developed a bullous lupus. As the first eruption had started a few months after his cancer diagnosis and was exacerbated during immunotherapy, a paraneoplastic origin is discussed. Since the patient also presented with flares under nivolumab, we reviewed reported irAEs. No bullous lupus was found but to date, 33 cases of paraneoplastic lupus and two of lupus erythematosus have been reported.

To our knowledge, this is the first description of a bullous lupus exacerbated by nivolumab.