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Impact of race/ethnicity and the presence of immune-related adverse events on outcomes for non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Impact of race/ethnicity and the presence of immune-related adverse events on outcomes for non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Robert Hsu, Karen Resnick, Peter Zang, Travis Larsen, Shirley Ye, April Choi, Shawn Yu, Kevin Brady, Trevor E. Angell, Lily Dara, …
Therapeutic advances in medical oncology, Vol.18, p.17588359261423890
01/01/2026
DOI: 10.1177/17588359261423890
PMID: 41783776
url
https://doi.org/10.1177/17588359261423890View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Impact of immunotherapy side effects on race/ethnicity survival in non-small cell lung cancer Immunotherapy that can help re-signal the immune system to fight tumor cells and has contributed to improving outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer but Hispanics and African Americans have been severely underrepresented in clinical trials making up 2-7% of key lung cancer trials. However, immunotherapy can cause significant side effects such as inflammation of the colon, lung, liver, or thyroid. In our study of NSCLC patients receiving immunotherapy, we found that Asian Pacific Islanders (23.2 months) and Non-Hispanic Whites (23.6 months) had longer median overall survival than 12.7 months in African Americans and 11.0 months in Hispanic patients. Asian Pacific Islander (48.3%) had a higher prevalence of immunotherapy side effects versus 39.4% in Non-Hispanic Whites, 27.3% in African Americans, and 27.0% in Hispanics. Among patients with immunotherapy side effects, Asian Pacific Islanders had a longer median survival of 60.6 months, compared to Non-Hispanic Whites at 48.4 months, African Americans at 35.7 months, and Hispanics at 15.2 months. No significant survival difference was seen in those who did not have immunotherapy side effects. Factoring in other variables, mortality in Hispanics compared to Asian Pacific Islanders was a significant variable towards overall survival. Thus, our study showed that Asian Pacific Islanders had longer median overall survival while having a higher prevalence of immunotherapy side effects while Hispanics and African Americans had a shorter median overall survival while having a lower prevalence of immunotherapy side effects. These findings demonstrate the importance of studying the environment of immune cells in lung cancer factoring in race/ethnicity and to have clinical trials on immunotherapy drugs with greater representation of minorities.
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