Immune-related adverse events are diagnosed in 30-70% of cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy treatment and can affect all organs of the body. These side effects can range from minor skin rashes and fevers to severe gastrointestinal complications to fatal heart inflammation issues. There are currently limited treatment solutions beyond withholding immunotherapy treatment or prescribing steroids that may interfere with the anti-tumor therapeutic efficacy of immunotherapy. The Severe Immunotherapy Complications Service at Mass General was created to address the urgent need to understand how and why these toxicities occur, in order to develop new therapies that will allow patients to safely stay on their lifesaving immunotherapy regimens.
