Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jun 15, 2020; 12(6): 699-704
Published online Jun 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i6.699
Immune checkpoint inhibitors induced colitis, stay vigilant: A case report
Suha Abu Khalaf, Abdulmajeed Albarrak, Mohamad Yousef, Veysel Tahan
Suha Abu Khalaf, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, United States
Abdulmajeed Albarrak, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 81999, Saudi Arabia
Abdulmajeed Albarrak, Mohamad Yousef, Veysel Tahan, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, United States
Author contributions: Abu Khalaf S reviewed the literature, performed the data collection, reviewed the patient chart, and wrote the original manuscript; Albarrak A edited the manuscript and performed the colonoscopy, Yousef M edited the manuscript; Tahan V reviewed the manuscript, edited, supervised the first author, got the patient’s consent and performed the colonoscopy; all authors have read and agreed on the final version of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent wasn’t obtained from the patient for publication of this report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Suha Abu Khalaf, MD, Doctor, Resident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Missouri, 1 Hospital Dr, Columbia, MO 65212, United States. abukhalafs@health.missouri.edu
Received: January 18, 2020
Peer-review started: January 18, 2020
First decision: April 16, 2020
Revised: May 7, 2020
Accepted: May 19, 2020
Article in press: May 19, 2020
Published online: June 15, 2020
Processing time: 149 Days and 4.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Immunotherapy is one of the novel treatments of this century, though it can cause many predicted and unpredicted immune-related side effects. This is a rare case of immunotherapy induced colitis in an otherwise healthy male who was recently diagnosed with melanoma and was started on appropriate immunotherapy treatment. Clinicians should keep in mind the possible immune side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors as they can develop at any stage, which will help physicians in stopping these medications earlier and avoiding further serious harm.