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Background: The development of immune‐related adverse events (irAEs) may be associated with clinical efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) in patients with cancer. We therefore investigated the effect of irAEs and pre‐treatment parameters on outcome in a large, real‐life patient cohort. Methods: We performed a single‐centre, retrospective, observational study including patients who received CPIs from 2011 to 2018 and followed until 2021. The primary outcome was overall survival, and the secondary outcome was the development of irAEs. Results: In total, 229 patients with different tumour entities (41% non‐small cell lung cancer [NSCLC], 29% melanoma) received a total of 282 CPI treatment courses (ipilimumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab or atezolizumab). Thirty‐four percent of patients developed irAEs (of these 17% had CTCAE Grade ≥3). Factors independently associated with mortality were pre‐treatment CRP ≥10 mg/L (hazard ratio [HR] 2.064, p = 0.0003), comorbidity measured by Charlson comorbidity index (HR 1.149, p = 0.014) and irAEs (HR 0.644, p = 0.036) (age‐adjusted, n = 216). Baseline eosinophil count ≤0.2 × 109/L was a further independent predictor of mortality (age‐, CRP‐, CCI‐ and irAE‐adjusted HR = 2.252, p = 0.002, n = 166). Anti‐CTLA‐4 use (p < 0.001), and pre‐treatment CRP <10 mg/L were independently associated with irAE occurrence (p = 0.037). Conclusions: We found an independent association between irAE occurrence and improved overall survival in a real‐life cohort spanning multiple tumour entities and treatment regimens. Pre‐treatment comorbidities, CRP and eosinophil count represent potential markers for predicting treatment response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To determine whether enzyme‐inducing antiseizure drugs (ASDs) affect the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or lung cancer in smokers. Methods: Cases of COPD and lung cancer and matched controls without these conditions were identified from a population of smokers with ≥1 prescription for any type of ASD in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink UK database of patients managed in primary care (1995–2016). A matched case–control study was performed utilising multivariate logistic regression analyses of exposure to enzyme‐inducing ASDs compared to non–enzyme‐inducing ASDs. The duration of ASD exposure and level of tobacco exposure were also assessed. Results: We identified 5952 incident COPD and 1373 incident lung cancer cases, and 59 328 and 13 681 matched controls, respectively. Compared with never use, ever use of enzyme‐inducing ASDs was associated with slightly decreased risk estimates of COPD (adjusted odds ratio: 0.85, 95% confidence interval: 0.81–0.89) and lung cancer (adjusted odds ratio: 0.82, 95% confidence interval: 0.73–0.92). These risk estimates were attenuated in heavy smokers. Conclusion: We found slightly decreased risk estimates of COPD and lung cancer among smokers taking enzyme‐inducing ASDs and hypothesise that this may be related to induction of detoxification of tobacco‐specific lung toxins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]