Wu JY, Kang K, Yi J, Yang B. Pembrolizumab-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome in advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung: A case report and review of literature. World J Clin Cases 2022; 10(18): 6110-6118 [PMID: 35949835 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i18.6110]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Bin Yang, MS, Academic Fellow, Academic Research, Additional Professor, Department of Thoracic Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Techonology, No. 116 Zhuo Daoquan South Road, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China. dlhdr2011@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Immunology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
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 Clin Cases. Jun 26, 2022; 10(18): 6110-6118 Published online Jun 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i18.6110
Pembrolizumab-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome in advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung: A case report and review of literature
Jing-Yi Wu, Kai Kang, Jing Yi, Bin Yang
Jing-Yi Wu, Jing Yi, Bin Yang, Department of Thoracic Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Techonology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China
Kai Kang, Department of Thoracic Oncology Surgery, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Wu JY and Kang K designed the study and performed the experiments; Yi J, Yang B, and Wu JY performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript; Wu JY and Kang K contributed to this article equally.
Informed consent statement: Consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bin Yang, MS, Academic Fellow, Academic Research, Additional Professor, Department of Thoracic Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Techonology, No. 116 Zhuo Daoquan South Road, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China. dlhdr2011@163.com
Received: October 10, 2021 Peer-review started: October 10, 2021 First decision: December 10, 2021 Revised: December 24, 2021 Accepted: April 30, 2022 Article in press: April 30, 2022 Published online: June 26, 2022 Processing time: 249 Days and 16.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
For advanced lung squamous cell carcinoma, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been regarded as one of the optimal therapies. While immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are common in ICI treatment, cutaneous toxicities are among the most common irAEs. Most immune-related skin toxicity grades are low, and the prognosis is good. However, Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a rare but extremely severe cutaneous adverse drug reaction with high mortality.
CASE SUMMARY
We report a rare case of SJS induced by pembrolizumab. The case involved a 68-year-old female who was diagnosed with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. SJS appeared after one cycle of immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. After treatment with prednisone hormone symptoms, anti-infection, gamma globulin, and antipruritic agents, the skin toxicity of the patients gradually decreased and eventually disappeared. Although the antitumor treatment was stopped due to serious adverse reactions, the tumor of the patient remained stable for nearly half a year after one cycle of immune therapy combined with chemotherapy, which also corroborates the delayed effect of immunotherapy.
CONCLUSION
We believe our report can provide some references for the treatment of SJS and the treatment of immune-related adverse reactions.
Core Tip: Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a rare but extremely severe cutaneous adverse drug reaction with high mortality. The case involved a 68-year-old female who was diagnosed with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. SJS syndrome appeared after one cycle of immunotherapy. After the optimal supportive treatment, skin toxicity disappeared.
