Are Immune-Related Adverse Events Similar in Men and Women?
Posted: Monday, October 29, 2018
At the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Toronto (Abstract P1.01-10), one study observed that immune-related adverse events were disproportionately seen in more female patients than male patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors for metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition, women who had immune-related adverse events were found to have better progression-free survival than women who did not.
“Besides sex, no other clinical characteristic was associated with increased immune-related adverse events,” Narjust Duma, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, and colleagues concluded.
Patients with metastatic NSCLC treated at the Rochester and Florida locations of Mayo Clinic with anti–PD-1 and anti–PD-L1 therapies were included (2015–2018). Of the 231 patients, 120 (52%) were women, and 111 (48%) were men. Compared with 31% of the men, 48% of the women experienced immune-related adverse events. Women were also more likely than men to experience pneumonitis (23% vs. 12%) and arthralgia (17% vs. 3%). Furthermore, women also had higher rates of therapy discontinuation (17% vs. 7%).
According to the study authors, there was an observed link between immune-related adverse events and progression-free survival. Whereas women who did not experience immune-related adverse events had a progression-free survival of 3.3 months, women who experienced immune-related adverse events had an improved progression-free survival of 10 months. The authors concluded that immune-related adverse events seem to be more common in women and that they may be linked to response to therapy. However, the authors noted, “larger studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying these associations.”
