Clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal immune-related adverse events of immune checkpoint inhibitors and their association with survival

Figure 1 Kaplan–Meier curves of the cumulative incidence of gastrointestinal- immune-related adverse events for all patients in the programmed cell death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 groups. The cumulative incidence was significantly higher in the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 group than in the programmed cell death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 group (P = 0.003). CTLA-4: Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4; PD-1: Programmed cell death-1; PD-L1: Programmed death-ligand 1.

Figure 2 Ischemic change caused by an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Endoscopic images of gastrointestinal-immune-related adverse events in the sigmoid colon of a patient. A: The mucosa of the sigmoid colon shows redness, erosion, hemorrhage, and edema; B: Some of the mucosa is pale, with submucosal edema and bleeding.

Figure 3 Overall survival after initiation of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. Overall survival (OS) of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and OS of patients with malignant melanoma (MM). A: In patients with NSCLC, there was no significant difference in OS among the three groups; B: The results were similar when stratified in stage III; C: The results were similar when stratified in stage IV; D: In patients with MM, there was a significant prolongation of OS in the immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) continuation group compared to the non-gastrointestinal immune-related adverse event (non-GI-irAE) group (P = 0.035); E: There was no significant difference in OS between the ICI continuation group and the non-GI-irAE group among patients with stage III disease; F: Among patients with stage IV disease, there was a significant prolongation of OS in the ICI continuation group compared to the non-GI-irAE group (P = 0.017). ICI continuation group: Patients who continued ICI treatment after developing GI-irAEs; ICI discontinuation group: Patients who discontinued ICI treatment after developing GI-irAEs; non-GI-irAE group: Patients with no GI-irAEs.