WEDNESDAY, Dec. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The addition of an immune checkpoint blockade to perioperative cancer therapy is associated with increased incidence of certain adverse events, according to a review published online Nov. 24 in The Lancet Oncology.

Yu Fujiwara, M.D., from Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York City, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine how adding an immune checkpoint blockade to perioperative therapy affects treatment-related adverse events. Data were included from 28 randomized controlled trials with 16,976 cancer patients.

The researchers found no significant association for addition of an immune checkpoint blockade with increased treatment-related deaths, and this finding was consistent across immune checkpoint blockade subtypes. Across 9,864 patients treated with an immune checkpoint blockade, 40 fatal toxicities were identified, with pneumonitis the most common (15.0 percent); among 7,112 patients who were not treated with an immune checkpoint blockade, 13 fatal toxicities were identified. The incidence rates of grade 3 to 4 treatment-related adverse events, adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation, and treatment-related adverse events of any grade were increased with the addition of an immune checkpoint blockade (odds ratios, 2.73, 3.67, and 2.60, respectively). Increased incidence rates of treatment-related deaths and grade 3 to 4 adverse events were seen in association with an immune checkpoint blockade versus placebo design primarily used as adjuvant therapy (odds ratios, 4.02 and 5.31, respectively), while incidence was not increased with the addition of an immune checkpoint blockade in the neoadjuvant setting.

“Our analysis points to a need for further research into risk factors and identification of appropriate biomarkers to predict both efficacy and toxicity associated with cancer immunotherapy,” Fujiwara said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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