Severe pulmonary infections complicating nivolumab treatment for lung cancer: a report of two cases

ABSTRACT

Background

Immunotherapy represents a recent milestone in the treatment of lung cancer, particularly with the rapidly expanding development of monoclonal antibodies targeting checkpoint inhibitors in the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) pathway, such as nivolumab and pembrolizumab. Classical auto-immune side effects of these treatments, often called immune-related adverse events (irAEs), can affect multiple organs, including the lungs in which potentially life-threatening pneumonitis may require rapid treatment with high doses of corticosteroids. Nevertheless, the occurrence of severe infections in cancer patients treated with nivolumab, outside the context of immunosuppressive therapy, is a complication that has rarely been reported in the literature.

Clinical cases

We report two cases of severe pulmonary infection with unusual microbes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Aspergillus fumigatus, in patients treated with nivolumab for non-small cell lung cancer.

Conclusion

Ruling out pulmonary infections may require extensive investigation, as these may have an atypical presentation due to immunomodulation. Furthermore, treating the patient with corticosteroids for immune-related pneumonia could lead to a fatal outcome in this context. This report highlights the importance of excluding the presence of opportunistic infections and tuberculosis before considering immune-related pulmonary toxicity with or without a history of prior corticosteroid use. These cases also emphasize the potential value of tuberculosis screening in patients treated with PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-small cell lung cancer
• immune checkpoint blockade
• pneumonitis
• tuberculosis
• aspergillosis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.