Characterization of immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated fulminant type 1 diabetes associated with autoantibody...

Fulminant type 1 diabetes may uniquely occur as a fatal adverse event during immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. We investigated the clinical and immunological characteristics of ICI-associated fulminant type 1 diabetes (IFD).

We enrolled 80 patients with IFD (77 cases from the literature), 56 patients with ICI-associated type 1 diabetes (IT1D) (55 cases from the literature), 45 patients with traditional fulminant type 1 diabetes (TFD), and 43 patients with acute-onset type 1 diabetes for comprehensive analysis including islet autoantibodies and subgroup analysis based on ethnic origin.

Patients with IFD accounted for 58.8% (80/136) of patients with ICI-related diabetes. IFD had a more rapid onset than IT1D after ICI therapy (90.5 days vs. 120 days, p <0.05). The onset time and number of infusions after ICI therapy initiation were lower in the antibody-positive IFD group than that in the antibody-negative IFD group (both p <0.001). IFD had a more rapid onset and more serious among Caucasians than that among Asians (p <0.01, p <0.05, respectively), and the prevalence of islet autoantibody positivity in the Caucasian IFD were prominently higher than those in the Asian IFD (p <0.05). Onset age and plasma glucose levels were significantly higher in the IFD group than those in the TFD and acute-onset type 1 diabetes groups. HbA1c levels were slightly higher in patients with IFD than those with TFD.

IFD is relatively common in Caucasian population where TFD is very rare or almost absent. IFD occurrence is significantly related to islet autoantibody status and ethnic origin.