Effect of excess weight on immune-related adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitor in lung cancer.

Abstract

e21183 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective therapies for advanced lung cancer however they are also associated with immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Obesity has been shown to be correlated with both ICIs’ anti-tumor efficacy particularly in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there have been conflicting reports between the relationship between BMI and the incidence of irAEs. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on the use of immune checkpoint inhibitor in advance lung cancer from Mount Auburn Hospital, a community-based teaching hospital in the United States, between 2016 to 2020. We studied the association between overweight (BMI of more than 25 kg/m2) versus normal weight patients (BMI 18.5 - 24.99 kg/m2) and incidence of irAEs or progression free survival. Results: A total of 51 patients with advanced lung cancer were treated with either Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab, Durvalumab or Atezolizumab. NSCLC accounted for 90.2% of the histological findings and adenocarcinoma represented 45.0% of the cohort. Among these patients 61.0% were classified as. There was a trend to increase in the incidence of irAEs in overweight compared to normal weight patients (48.3% vs. 25.0%, OR 1.91, 95% CI 0.56-6.99, p = 0.308). The most common irAEs in this cohort was thyroid dysfunction. The overweight group also had a higher baseline blood glucose level (120.5 ± 39.9 mg/dL vs. 92.9 ± 13.8 mg/dL, p < 0.01). However, no difference in progression free survival was found between the two groups (HR 1.19, 95%CI 0.58-2.42, p = 0.6). Conclusions: Although limited by sample size, here we reported a real-world experience where excessive weight may be an important predictor of irAEs development in patients with lung cancer.