Immune adverse events of checkpoint inhibitors

Bernardo Rapoport, MD and Ronwyn Van Eeden MBChB, FCP(SA) of The Medical Oncology Centre of Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa discuss immune-related side effects associated with checkpoint inhibitors. Dr Rapoport says that checkpoint inhibitors have been a major breakthrough in the management of malignant melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. New checkpoint inhibitors are used to treat triple-negative breast cancer, blood cancer, ovarian and gastric cancer. Dr Van Eededn mentions that it is a new therapy with a different mechanism of action and side effect profile than chemotherapy or targeted therapies. Dr Rapoport and dr Van Eeden talk about anti-CLTA-4 and anti-PD-1 antibody toxicities and point out that the combination of these two antibodies is associated with potentiation of toxicities. Recorded at the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and International Society of Ocular Oncology (ISOO) 2016 Annual Meeting on Supportive Care in Cancer held in Adelaide, Australia.