Immune-checkpoint inhibitors and thyroid function in cancer patients

This study wanted to find out how many cancer patients who were receiving treatments which target the immune system end up with thyroid problems. The study found that there were higher numbers of these patients experiencing issues with the thyroid than previously reported.

There are a number of options for treatment of cancer. A newer type of therapy is called immunotherapy. It involves targeting areas of the immune system that are related to cancers. One of these groups of medications are called immune-checkpoint inhibitors. These work by stopping certain pathways in the immune system. It has previously been reported that people who use these medications have had issues with their thyroid, and how it functions.

This study consisted of 218 patients. The patients all had cancer. At first test, all of the patients had normal thyroid function. All of the patients received treatment with one of three immune-checkpoint inhibitors. These were either ipilimumab (Yervoy), nivolumab (Opdivo), or pembrolizumab (Keytruda).

Overall, 35% of patients had new issues with their thyroid function after treatment with immune-checkpoint inhibitors. 64.5% of patients on both ipilimumab and nivolumab had new thyroid function issues, compared with 31.3% of patients who only took ipilimumab, 31.5% who only took nivolumab, and 26% who only took pembrolizumab.

The authors concluded that treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors is highly related to issues with thyroid function in patients with cancer.

This study is small, and should be repeated again with more patients, but the results are very important.