Clinical characteristics of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The clinical data of ten patients with immune checkpoint inhibitor-related type 1 diabetes mellitus were enrolled in the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from January 2020 to October 2022 including 9 males and 1 female, with an average age of (57±8) years. There were 7 cases of fulminant type 1 diabetes and 3 cases of acute type 1 diabetes. Among the 10 patients, there were 5 cases of lung cancer, 2 cases of esophageal cancer, 1 case of gastric carcinom, 1 case of renal cell carcinoma, and 1 case of nasopharyngeal cancer. The drugs used in 10 patients were all programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1) inhibitors, including 5 cases of pembrolizumab, 3 cases of sintilimab, 1 case of tanezumab, and 1 case of toripalimab. Among them, 8 patients had diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), 1 patient had ketosis, and 1 case had no ketosis at onset; 9 patients were negative for diabetes-related antibodies, and 1 patient was positive. All the 10 patients were successfully treated and depended on insulin therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors can cause type 1 diabetes, including fulminant type 1 diabetes, which mostly begins with DKA, requiring early identification and aggressive insulin therapy.