Neurologic disease activity in people with multiple sclerosis treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Background: There is concern that immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPIs) can provoke relapses in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). Objective: Analyze outcomes of pwMS who received ICPI treatment for malignancy. Methods: We electronically identified pwMS who received ICPI treatment at Mass General Brigham hospital system. We retrospectively obtained information about patients' MS, cancer, treatment, and outcomes. Results: Sixteen patients were identified with an average (standard deviation (SD)) age of 67.4 (11.9) years. Eleven (68.8%) had no relapses since MS diagnosis. None had MS relapses after ICPI treatment or new MS lesions. Conclusion: ICPI use was not associated with increased clinical disease activity in this cohort of older patients with inactive MS.

Automated summary

In this study, the outcomes of older MS patients who received ICPI treatment were analyzed. The results showed that there were no relapses or new MS lesions after ICPI treatment. Therefore, the use of ICPIs does not appear to increase clinical disease activity in this group of patients with inactive MS.