Notice the neuro negatives.

We talk about PD-1 targeting ... All. The. Time. (Eh hm see above.) As the use of this therapeutic option increases across more and more cancer types, so too will the incidence of its adverse side effects. Which brings us to last month’s JAMA investigation into the neuro complications of PD-1 inhibition. No, we weren’t aware of this side effect either. A retrospective review of 347 patients treated with pembrolizumab or nivolumab at Mayo identified 10 patients with adverse neurologic events not attributable to disease. We realize that’s a rate of only <3%, but it translates to a number needed to treat of only 35. Bottom line, if a patient on a PD-1 inhibitor develops weird neuropathies, myopathies or even retinopathies (think: autoimmun-opathies), it could be due to something other than the cancer…and just might be the cancer treatment instead.