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CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1517391
A rare case of sintilimab-induced dermatomyositis in a patient with gastric cancer
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, China
- 2 Department of Oncology, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, China
- 3 Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, China
- 4 Department of Pharmacy, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong Province, China
The PD-1 inhibitor sintilimab has been approved for the treatment of various malignancies. Here, we reported a rare case of sintilimab-induced dermatomyositis in a patient with gastric cancer and liver metastasis to raise awareness of this serious adverse event. A 64-year-old man presented with the onset of gastric cancer and liver metastasis and received two cycles of sintilimab plus nab-paclitaxel. The patient experienced fever, thrombocytopenia, and rash during the first-cycle treatment, followed by bilateral ptosis, dysphagia, slurred speech, and myalgia during the second-cycle treatment. Elevated muscle enzymes, electromyography, and positive myositis antibodies confirmed the diagnosis of dermatomyositis. He was treated with high-dose corticosteroids and immunoglobulin, resulting in symptom improvement. This case widens the spectrum of immune-related toxicity associated with sintilimab, as well as highlights the need for early recognition and management of these events in patients receiving ICIs.
Keywords: PD-1 inhibitor, immune checkpoint inhibitors, Sintilimab, Dermatomyositis, Immunerelated adverse events
Received: 26 Oct 2024; Accepted: 27 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mou, Li, Zhao and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Feifei Zhao, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, China
Yingying Wang, Department of Pharmacy, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong Province, China
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