Inflammatory disease in people with multiple sclerosis treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Saira Afzal; Yadi Li; Brittany Lapin; Le H Hua; Lucy Boyce Kennedy; Wen Wee Ma; Marisa McGinley; Jeffrey A Cohen; Amy Kunchok

doi:10.1002/acn3.52287

Inflammatory disease in people with multiple sclerosis treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2024 Dec 31. doi: 10.1002/acn3.52287. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Saira Afzal¹, Yadi Li², Brittany Lapin², Le H Hua³, Lucy Boyce Kennedy⁴, Wen Wee Ma⁴, Marisa McGinley⁵, Jeffrey A Cohen⁵, Amy Kunchok⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, Florida, USA.
² Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
³ Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
⁴ Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
⁵ Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

PMID: 39737530
DOI: 10.1002/acn3.52287

Abstract

This study evaluated disease activity in people with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) who received immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) compared to PwMS not treated with ICIs. There were 108 PwMS included (27 PwMS+ICIs and 81 PwMS controls), matched on age, sex, disease duration, DMTs, and MS disease course. Of 27 PwMS+ICIs, one (4%) had a relapse and four (15%) developed new MRI lesions without clinical symptoms. Time to relapse and MRI activity were compared using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models. There was no significant difference for either time to relapse (p = 0.34) or MRI activity (p = 0.15) in PwMS+ICIs compared to controls.