Flu jab risk for cancer patients
Wednesday April 26th, 2017
The annual flu jab may pose a specific risk to lung cancer patients who are being treated with drugs known as PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors, a European conference has heard.
This finding comes from a study of 23 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, or melanoma. Just over half had been given at least two rounds of chemotherapy and all were currently taking PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors nivolumab or pembrolizumab.
PD-1 is known as a checkpoint protein on T cells. It normally prevents T cells from attacking healthy cells by attaching to PD-L1, but some cancer cells have large amounts of PD-L1, which protects them from the immune system. PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors overcome this defence.
The participants received a trivalent flu vaccination and their outcomes were compared against ten similar but cancer-free participants.
This showed an unusual high frequency of immune-related adverse events (52%), including six patients who experienced severe grade 3 or 4 immune-related adverse events.
Lead researcher Dr Sacha Rothschild of University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, will present the results on 6 May at the European Lung Cancer Conference 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.
He said: "Use of immune checkpoint inhibitors is now standard clinical practice for many oncology patients, and these same patients - particularly those with lung cancer - also face increased risk for complications from influenza.
"Although routine influenza vaccination has long been recommended for cancer patients, there are concerns that it might trigger an exaggerated immune response in this subgroup receiving checkpoint inhibitors."
Though he added that these results, suggesting a possible contraindication, must be confirmed in a larger study.
Immune response and adverse events to influenza vaccine in cancer patients undergoing PD-1 blockade, Abstract 112P_PR, presented on 6 May at the European Lung Cancer Conference 2017, held from 5-8 May 2017, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Tags: Cancer | Europe | Flu & Viruses | Pharmaceuticals
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