Tuberculosis following PD-1 blockade for cancer immunotherapy

DL Barber, S Sakai, RR Kudchadkar, SP Fling… - Science translational …, 2019 - science.org
DL Barber, S Sakai, RR Kudchadkar, SP Fling, TA Day, JA Vergara, D Ashkin, JH Cheng
Science translational medicine, 2019science.org
Because of the well-established therapeutic benefit of boosting antitumor responses through
blockade of the T cell inhibitory receptor PD-1, it has been proposed that PD-1 blockade
could also be useful in infectious disease settings, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(Mtb) infection. However, in preclinical models, Mtb-infected PD-1−/− mice mount
exaggerated TH1 responses that drive lethal immunopathology. Multiple cases of
tuberculosis during PD-1 blockade have been observed in patients with cancer, but in …
Because of the well-established therapeutic benefit of boosting antitumor responses through blockade of the T cell inhibitory receptor PD-1, it has been proposed that PD-1 blockade could also be useful in infectious disease settings, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. However, in preclinical models, Mtb-infected PD-1−/− mice mount exaggerated TH1 responses that drive lethal immunopathology. Multiple cases of tuberculosis during PD-1 blockade have been observed in patients with cancer, but in humans little is understood about Mtb-specific immune responses during checkpoint blockade–associated tuberculosis. Here, we report two more cases. We describe a patient who succumbed to disseminated tuberculosis after PD-1 blockade for treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and we examine Mtb-specific immune responses in a patient with Merkel cell carcinoma who developed checkpoint blockade–associated tuberculosis and was successfully treated for the infection. After anti–PD-1 administration, interferon-γ–producing Mtb-specific CD4 T cells became more prevalent in the blood, and a tuberculoma developed a few months thereafter. Mtb-specific TH17 cells, CD8 T cells, regulatory T cells, and antibody abundance did not change before the appearance of the granuloma. These results are consistent with the murine model data and suggest that boosting TH1 function with PD-1 blockade may increase the risk or severity of tuberculosis in humans.
AAAS