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Review
. 2022 Jun 1;61(11):1735-1738.
doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.7472-21. Epub 2021 Nov 20.

Severe Skin Toxicity Caused by Sequential Anti-PD-1 Antibody and Alectinib in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer: A Report of Two Cases and a Literature Review

Affiliations
Review

Severe Skin Toxicity Caused by Sequential Anti-PD-1 Antibody and Alectinib in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer: A Report of Two Cases and a Literature Review

Akihiro Nishiyama et al. Intern Med. .

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated marked efficacy in some cancer patients, but they may cause various severe immune-related adverse events. Alectinib is a second-generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) approved for ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Alectinib is said to be safer than other TKIs. We conducted an investigator-initiated trial of alectinib, which also has RET kinase-inhibitory activity, against RET-rearranged NSCLC. Two RET-rearranged NSCLC patients experienced severe skin toxicity with alectinib after first undergoing anti-PD-1 antibody treatment with an ICI. These findings suggest that we should carefully follow patients for adverse effects of targeted drugs following ICI treatment.

Keywords: ICIs; alectinib; anti-PD-1 antibody; severe skin toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors state that they have no Conflict of Interest (COI).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
a: Skin rash observed in case 1. A woman in her 40s. Alectinib 600 mg twice daily was started 24 days after the final administration of nivolumab. Picture shows erythema multiforme on day 13. b: Close-up picture of (a).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Skin rash observed in Case 2. A woman in her 30s. Alectinib 600 mg twice daily was started eight weeks after the final administration of nivolumab. Picture shows erythema multiforme on day 12.

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