Clinical Association Between Immune-related Adverse Events and Treatment Efficacy in Patients With Non-small-cell Lung Cancer Treated With Nivolumab-Ipilimumab-based Therapy

BACKGROUND/AIM: Nivolumab and ipilimumab combination therapy has been extensively explored for the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through the pivotal phase III trials CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA. However, the relationship between immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and the effectiveness of nivolumab plus ipilimumab-based therapy in a real-world clinical setting remains uncertain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 28 patients with advanced or recurrent NSCLC who underwent treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, with or without platinum-doublet chemotherapy, from February 2021 to January 2023. The primary objective was to elucidate the clinical association between irAEs and treatment efficacy associated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab-based therapy. RESULTS: Among the 28 patients, 22 (78.6%) experienced irAEs. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly longer for patients with irAEs than for those without (p=0.0158), as was overall survival (OS) (p=0.000394). The severity of irAEs had no significant influence on PFS or OS. The objective response rate tended to be higher in patients with irAEs than in those without (50.0% versus 0.0%, respectively; p=0.0549). Multivariate analysis indicated that irAE occurrence was an independent factor for improved PFS (hazard ratio=0.2084, p=0.01383) and OS (hazard ratio=0.0857, p=0.001588). Interstitial lung disease was inferior to other irAE profiles for both PFS and OS. CONCLUSION: Patients with advanced NSCLC experiencing irAEs demonstrated superior clinical outcomes when treated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab-based therapy compared with those without irAEs. However, immune-related interstitial lung disease may be less linked with PFS and OS than other irAE profiles.