Methodology
Literature search –Literature was searched from 2018 up to June 2021 from several databases like Pub-Med, Google Scholar for studies on adverse events (AEs) induced by the anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 drugs. The drugs were searched only for cutaneous adverse effects. The following keywords were used (alone or in combination). “adverse drug reaction”, “adverse effects”, “cutaneous adverse effects” “PD-1 inhibitors”, “pembrolizumab”, “nivolumab”.“PD-L1 inhibitors”, “avelumab”, “atezolizumab”, “durvalumab”, “lichenoid dermatitis”, “granulomatous skin reactions”, “vitiligo”, “pruritus”, “psoriasiform rashes”, “bullous pemphigoid”, “dermatomyositis”, “lupus erythematosus”, “stevens-johnson syndrome/ toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN)”, “oral lichenoid dermatitis”. The search mainly included research articles, retrospective studies, case reports, and clinicopathological findings. The authors reviewed the abstracts and titles of studies that include the cases of cutaneous adverse events and treatment with either PD-1 inhibitors (pembrolizumab and nivolumab) or with PD-L1 inhibitors (atezolizumab, avelumab, durvalumab).
Literature review - About 200 articles were searched and a total of 150 publications were included in this article. These publications reported a total of 179 cases in which cutaneous irAEs were discussed. The cutaneous adverse effects encountered are lichenoid dermatitis (30/179), granulomatous skin reactions (24/179), vitiligo (10/179), pruritus (3/179), psoriasiform rashes (21/179), bullous pemphigoid (29/179), dermatomyositis (15/179), lupus erythematosus (11/179), stevens-johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) (18/179), oral lichenoid dermatitis (18/179). The data gathered from the cases have been compiled in Table 1.