Incidence, predictors and 6-month overall outcome of acute kidney injury in Chinese patients receiving PD-1 inhibitors

Aim: To explore the incidence, risk factors and overall outcome of the first episode of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related acute kidney injury (ICI-AKI) in Chinese patients receiving PD-1 inhibitors. Methods: Data for patients receiving PD-1 inhibitors at Jiangsu Province Hospital between December 2017 and January 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: A total of 5.6% of 551 patients receiving PD-1 inhibitors developed ICI-AKI. Concomitant use of NSAIDs, ICI cycles and extrarenal immune-related adverse events may be independently associated with ICI-AKI. ICI-AKI may not be a risk factor for increased mortality or worse progression-free survival. Conclusions: ICI-AKI is relatively rare and its occurrence may not affect the overall 6-month outcome of patients receiving PD-1 inhibitors. Further studies are needed to verify these findings.Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been more and more commonly used in patients with cancer. Therefore, it is important to understand the immune-related adverse events (irAEs), including immune-related renal adverse events, caused by ICIs. In this article, the authors explore the incidence, clinical features, risk factors and overall outcome of immune checkpoint inhibitor related-acute kidney injury (ICI-AKI) in Chinese patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors for the first time. Among 551 patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors, 65 patients experienced AKI and 31 patients experienced ICI-AKI. Patients with ICI-AKI may be more likely to receive nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, to receive PD-1 inhibitors for longer cycles or to experience extrarenal immune-related adverse events prior to or concomitant with ICI-AKI. The occurrence of ICI-AKI may not affect the survival time or disease progression of patients with cancer.