Checkpoint inhibitors used in cancer treatment are likely to cause inflammatory myopathies and/or myocarditis. German and Swiss clinicians sought to identify risk factors for the occurrence of this muscle toxicity:
- 20 patient records, mostly elderly (average age 67), who had presented with myositis or myocarditis between 2017 and 2024 were analysed and compared with those of 60 control patients also treated with checkpoint inhibitors for cancer.
- haplotyping studies were conducted using HLA data from several million German donors as a reference.
- the HLA-A*01:01-B*08:01-C*07:01 haplotype was found to be strongly correlated with the occurrence of these muscular complications.
These results will be useful to oncologists in identifying patients at risk of developing myositis or myocarditis as a result of these treatments.
