Autoantibody Development under Treatment with Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) activate the immune system to assault cancer cells in a manner that is not antigen specific. We hypothesized that tolerance may also be broken to autoantigens, resulting in autoantibody formation, which could be associated with immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and antitumor efficacy. Twenty-three common clinical autoantibodies in pre- and posttreatment sera from 133 ipilimumab-treated melanoma patients were determined, and their development linked to the occurrence of irAEs, best overall response, and survival. Autoantibodies developed in 19.2% (19/99) of patients who were autoantibody-negative pretreatment. A nonsignificant association was observed between development of any autoantibodies and any irAEs [OR, 2.92; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.85–10.01]. Patients with antithyroid antibodies after ipilimumab had significantly more thyroid dysfunction under subsequent anti–PD-1 therapy: 7/11 (54.6%) patients with antithyroid antibodies after ipilimumab developed thyroid dysfunction under anti–PD1 versus 7/49 (14.3%) patients without antibodies (OR, 9.96; 95% CI, 1.94–51.1). Patients who developed autoantibodies showed a trend for better survival (HR for all-cause death: 0.66; 95% CI, 0.34–1.26) and therapy response (OR, 2.64; 95% CI, 0.85–8.16). We conclude that autoantibodies develop under ipilimumab treatment and could be a potential marker of ICI toxicity and efficacy.

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