Treatment-related Skin Toxicity Caused by Programmed Death-1 Inhibitor Nivolumab: A Case Report

Abstract

Background and objective Nivolumab is an checkpoint inhibitor combining with programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor on T cells, which can block the interactions between PD-1 and programmed death ligands (PD-L), including PD-L1 and PD-L2. And then block the immunosuppression mediated by the PD-1 pathway. The aim of the study is to investigate the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of treatment-related skin toxicity caused by PD-1 inhibitor Nivolumab. Methods The clinical data of treatment-related skin toxicity caused by PD-1 inhibitor Nivolumab in a patient with advanced lung adenocarcinoma admitted to the Shanghai Chest Hospital was retrospectively analyzed. The diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the patient were discussed. Results The patient was a 60-year-old male presented with relapse after surgery and adjuvant postoperative chemotherapy for his lung carcinoma. The patient’s condition still progressed after multiple chemotherapy, targeted therapy and local radiotherapy of bone metastasis. Then Nivolumab, a kind of PD-1 inhibitors, was given intravenously every 3 weeks with the average dosage 3 mg/kg. After one cycle of Nivolumab, the patient began to have skin rashes, which aggravated gradually. The patient’s skin toxicity was alleviated after enough steroids and was controlled with tapering steroids slowly. Now the patient was still given oral steroids treatment. And the lung disease remained stable. Conclusion Immune-related skin toxicity associated with PD-1 inhibitor should be aware of; early detection, early treatment and the prognosis could be better. It is necessary to improve the understanding of Immune-related skin toxicity associated with PD-1 inhibitor, to diagnose and treat it early, and the prognosis could be better.


DOI: 10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2019.04.09