PD-L1 inhibitors-induced hypophysitis in a patient with small cell lung cancer: a case report and literatures review

Abstract

This paper reports a case of immune-related hypophysitis (irH) after 7 cycles of treatment with Duva-lizumab, a PD-L1 (programmed cell death-ligand 1) inhibitor in a patient with small cell lung cancer. The patient showed fatigue, anorexia, hypotension, with lower serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (3.8 ng/L) and thyroid stimulating hormone（TSH）(0.266 μIU/mL) than those before treatment (48 ng/L, 4.64 μIU/mL). The patient′s condition gradually improved with hydrocortisone replacement treatment. PubMed, Wanfang, and CNKI databases were searched.A total of 316 cases have been reported in recent 10 years, including 10 cases with irH caused by PD-1/PD-L1 in 84 lung cancer patients, mainly manifested as fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, and hypotension. Compared with cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated protein 4 antibody blocker treatment, the incidence of PD-1/PD-L1 induced-irH is low, and onset of irH is later. Pituitary MRI images mostly showed no abnormality. However, the condition of the patients was often critical or even life-threatening, which need to pay attention to.

Keywords

• |programmed cell death-ligand 1 inhibitor|small cell lung cancer|immune-related hypophysitis