Infrequent liver injury from cemiplimab in patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

A new type of cancer treatment termed 'immunotherapy' alters a patient's own immune system to attack the cancer cells. However, cemiplimab and similar medications can sometimes inadvertently injure the liver or other organs due to off-target activation of the immune system. This study describes the frequency and outcomes of liver injury observed in 39 patients with advanced skin cancer who were treated with cemiplimab at a single center. The authors found that 10% of patients developed liver injury, but only half of the cases were due to immune-mediated liver injury. The liver injury in these four patients was generally mild and self-limited. This study suggests that cemiplimab may be a preferred immunotherapy agent for patients with underlying liver disease due to its generally favorable side-effect profile, but further studies are needed.