Severe Toxicities Associated with Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Immunotherapy represents a recent and important advance in oncology. The immune checkpoint inhibitors, targeting the PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 proteins, are the most promising therapies and are used in the management of several cancers. The toxicities associated with these treatments are generally less frequent and less severe than those associated with chemotherapy and most targeted therapies. However, there are a number of toxicities that are specific to this type of treatment, which can sometimes be severe and the most frequent are pulmonary, digestive, endocrine and cutaneous toxicities. In this article, we will discuss the frequency, mechanism and principles of treatment of the different severe toxicities associated with immunotherapy.