Analysis of the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in advanced thymoma patients

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy has exhibited efficacy in thymic carcinoma patients; however, there are insufficient data to confirm this efficacy in thymoma. The toxicity of immunotherapy also remains to be determined. METHODS: The efficacy and safety of immunotherapy were analyzed in 11 thymoma patients who received PD‐1 inhibitors according to a range of relevant indexes including the objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression‐free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and immunotherapy‐related adverse events. RESULTS: The PFS and OS rates for all patients were 12.8 and 56.5 months, respectively. No difference in efficacy was detected between monotherapy and combination therapy (PFS: 12.8 vs 2.2 months, P = 0.787; OS: 73.8 vs 56.5 months, P = 0.367). The ORRs and DCRs for all patients were 27.3% and 90.9%, respectively. The incidence of adverse events was 45.5% among the 11 thymoma patients, including immune‐related myocarditis (36.4%), immune‐related liver damage (18.2%), and myasthenia gravis (18.2%). In the whole cohort of patients, the rate of adverse events of grade 3 or higher was 36.4%. The rates of adverse events of grade 3 or 4 in B3‐type and non‐B3‐type thymoma patients were 0% and 62.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Immunotherapy elicited a response in thymoma patients; however, more attention should be paid to the immune‐related adverse events.