Li H, Fu ZY, Arslan ME, Cho D, Lee H. Differential diagnosis and management of immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis: A comprehensive review. World J Exp Med 2021; 11(6): 79-92 [PMID: 36246150 DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v11.i6.79]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hwajeong Lee, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Albany Medical Center, 47 New Scotland Ave. MC81, Albany, NY 12208, United States. leeh5@amc.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Pathology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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/
World J Exp Med. Dec 30, 2021; 11(6): 79-92 Published online Dec 30, 2021. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v11.i6.79
Differential diagnosis and management of immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis: A comprehensive review
Hua Li, Zhi-Yan Fu, Mustafa Erdem Arslan, Daniel Cho, Hwajeong Lee
Hua Li, Zhi-Yan Fu, Mustafa Erdem Arslan, Hwajeong Lee, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY 12208, United States
Daniel Cho, Schenectady Pathology Associates, Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, NY 12308, United States
Author contributions: Li H carried out the study including review of the literature, data analysis, and drafted the manuscript, gave final approval of the version to be published; Fu ZY, Arslan ME and Cho D contributed to the editing and critical review of the manuscript, as well as final approval of the version to be published; Lee H provided cases for microscopic images, edited and critically reviewed the manuscript, and approved the final version to be published; all authors are agreeable to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hwajeong Lee, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Albany Medical Center, 47 New Scotland Ave. MC81, Albany, NY 12208, United States. leeh5@amc.edu
Received: February 19, 2021 Peer-review started: February 19, 2021 First decision: July 29, 2021 Revised: August 8, 2021 Accepted: December 23, 2021 Article in press: December 23, 2021 Published online: December 30, 2021 Processing time: 312 Days and 11.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Colitis is the most common adverse effect associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. Its clinical, endoscopic and histopathologic presentations overlap with those of colitis caused by other etiologies, including infection, other medications and graft-versus-host disease. Patients often present with diarrhea, abdominal pain and variable endoscopic findings ranging from normal or mild inflammation to ulcerations. Microscopically, acute colitis pattern of injury is the most common finding. ICI-induced colitis is a diagnosis of exclusion. Its current first-line treatment is corticosteroids, followed by infliximab for steroid-refractory colitis. Vedolizumab and fecal microbiota transplantation are promising options for treatment-refractory ICI-induced colitis.
