Acute pancreatitis without abdominal pain induced by administration of nivolumab and ipilimumab

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-induced Pancreatitis with Pancreatic Enlargement Mimicking Autoimmune Pancreatitis: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

A 61-year-old woman was administered 35 cycles of pembrolizumab for the treatment of recurrent endometrial cancer, achieving a complete response. She presented with asymptomatic pancreatic enlargement and elevated hepatobiliary enzymes, but amylase and lipase levels were within the normal ranges. Intrapancreatic bile duct stenosis due to pancreatic enlargement was present, mimicking autoimmune pancreatitis on computed tomography performed before the onset of clinical manifestations. A histological examination of a biopsy specimen showed lymphocyte and plasma cell infiltration with dense fibrosis in the stroma. The patient was successfully treated with oral prednisolone. There were no manifestations of recurrent pancreatitis after tapering the prednisolone dose.

Risk factors for drug-related acute pancreatitis: an analysis of the FDA adverse event reporting system (FAERS)

Objective: While several drugs have been linked to acute pancreatitis (AP), the AP-related risk of most drugs remains unclear. This study investigated the risk factors for drug-induced AP by analyzing a large dataset from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). Methods: The reporting odds ratios (ROR) were used to assess the reports of drug-induced AP from the first quarter of 2004 to the second quarter of 2022. Single-factor, LASSO, and multi-factor regression analysis were performed to explore drug-related AP-related risk factors. Bonferroni correction was applied for the multiple comparisons performed. Results: A total of 264 drugs associated with AP, including antineoplastic drugs (35/264), antidiabetic drugs (28/264), antibacterial drugs (24/264), immunomodulatory drugs (11/264), antipsychotic drugs (6/264), and other drugs (160/264) were retrieved. Multi-factor analysis showed that males, age 41-54 years old, and 36 drugs, including Tigecycline, were risk factors for drug-related AP. The median time to drug-related AP onset was 31 days (interquartile range [IQR] 7-102 days) and about 75% of adverse events occurred within 100 days. Conclusion: These findings may help clinicians to identify drug-related AP at the early stage and can be used to inform future studies of drug-related AP pathogenesis.

Rituximab in steroid-refractory immune-related pancreatitis: a case report

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for treating several types of cancer is increasing, but they may be associated with immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Pancreatitis is a rare irAE, mostly responsive to steroid treatment. There are no published data on the management of steroid-refractory ICI-induced pancreatitis. Rituximab has shown efficacy in the setting of relapsing non-ICI-induced autoimmune pancreatitis. However, its use has not been tested for treating immunotherapy-related pancreatitis. Here, we present the case of a patient with steroid-refractory immune-related pancreatitis successfully treated with rituximab as a potential strategy for irAE management.

Type 3 autoimmune pancreatitis (immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced pancreatitis)

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Type 3 auto-immune pancreatitis (AIP) is a rare immune-related adverse event (irAE) because of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy employed in the management of advanced malignancies. The evaluation and management of this disease entity is not well documented in the literature. We summarize the available information on the clinical profile, diagnosis, and treatment of this disorder.

RECENT FINDINGS

ICI-pancreatic injury (ICI-PI) is a form of AIP, recently termed type 3 AIP, which may present as an asymptomatic lipase elevation or clinical pancreatitis, that is, abdominal pain and elevated lipase. CT findings of pancreatitis may be absent in some cases. Diagnosis is based on a temporal relationship to ICI exposure and the absence of other cause of pancreatitis. Combination ICIs increase the risk of type 3 AIP compared with ICI monotherapy. Though corticosteroids are used for ICIP, their role and benefit remain unclear to date. Holding immunotherapy carries the risk of progression of underlying cancer.

SUMMARY

ICI-PI is a unique form of AIP (type 3) with a distinct disease profile. The majority of patients with ICIPI are asymptomatic and steroid therapy has unclear benefits.