Cross-Cancer Type Evaluation of Potential Interstitial Lung Disease Complications of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors...

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a serious adverse event caused by the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, only few large-scale studies have explored the association among ICI use, underlying cancer type, and ILD complications. This study aimed to analyze the association between the primary cancer type and ICI-induced ILD in a cross-sectional manner using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. Nivolumab and pembrolizumab (anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibodies) and durvalumab, avelumab, and atezolizumab (anti-programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies) were included as ICIs in this study. Adverse events were identified based on the preferred terms of Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) version 27.0/J listed in the Standardized MedDRA Queries (SMQ) "interstitial lung disease." The reporting odds ratio was calculated to detect the association between ICI use and ILD complications, and a signal was detected if the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval exceeded 1. In the analysis of all cancer types, a signal was detected for all ICIs except avelumab. An association between ICI and ILD was detected for all cancer types with nivolumab. However, pembrolizumab exhibited a signal only in colorectal cancer. In contrast, anti-PD-L1 antibodies displayed signals in five cancer types, excluding head and neck cancer, which was not reported in JADER. Among these cancer types, atezolizumab exhibited a signal only in breast cancer. The results of this study will help guide the safe use of ICIs based on the underlying cancer type in terms of ILD complications.