Yusuke Sato: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Satoshi Watanabe: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Kohei Kushiro: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Toshiya Fujisaki: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Miho Takahashi: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Aya Ohtsubo: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Satoshi Shoji: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Koichiro Nozaki: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Kosuke Ichikawa: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Satoshi Hokari: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Rie Kondo: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Masachika Hayashi: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Hiroyuki Ishikawa: Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Takao Miyabayashi: Niigata City General Hospital, Niigata, Japan.
Tetsuya Abe: Niigata City General Hospital, Niigata, Japan.
Satoru Miura: Niigata Cancer Center Hospital, Niigata, Japan.
Hiroshi Tanaka: Niigata Cancer Center Hospital, Niigata, Japan.
Takashi Ishida: Niigata Prefectural Central Hospital, Joetsu, Japan.
Akira Iwashima: Nagaoka Chuo General Hospital, Nagaoka, Japan.
Kazuhiro Sato: Nagaoka Red Cross Hospital, Nagaoka, Japan.
Hirohisa Yoshizawa: Niigata Medical Center, Niigata, Japan.
Nobumasa Aoki: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Yasuyoshi Ohshima: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Toshiyuki Koya: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Toshiaki Kikuchi: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
BACKGROUND: Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), ICIs may cause interstitial lung disease (ILD), which results in treatment discontinuation and is sometimes fatal. Despite the high incidence of ICI-related ILD, there are few cancer treatment options for patients. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of subsequent systemic cancer therapy in NSCLC patients with ICI-related ILD. METHODS: We retrospectively assessed NSCLC patients who received programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors as first- to third-line therapy at participating institutions of the Niigata Lung Cancer Treatment Group from January 2016 to October 2017. RESULTS: This analysis included 231 patients, 32 (14%) of whom developed ICI-related ILD. Of these patients, 16 (7%) received subsequent systemic cancer treatments. The median overall survival (OS) tended to be longer in the systemic cancer therapy group than in the no systemic cancer therapy group [22.2 months (95% CI: 1-NE) 4.5 months (95% CI: 1-NE); P=0.067]. ICI-related ILD recurred in half of the patients who received systemic cancer therapy, and the median OS tended to be shorter in patients with recurrent ICI-related ILD [22.0 months (95% CI: 1-NE) 7.0 months (95% CI: 1-NE); P=0.3154]. CONCLUSIONS: According to the current study, systemic cancer treatment is effective in patients with ICI-related ILD; however, its safety is uncertain because of the high risk of ICI-related ILD recurrence and poor survival outcome following ILD recurrence.