Ipilimumab, a cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4)-blocking antibody, can induce clinical responses in cancer patients, but it can also induce some considerable and even fatal side effects. Hypophysitis (inflammation of the pituitary gland) is a side effect that occurs in a small proportion of patients treated with ipilimumab. Using a mouse model of ipilimumab-induced hypophysitis, Iwama and colleagues found that CTLA4 was expressed in certain cells within pituitary glands and these were the site of inflammation.
References
Iwama, S. et al. Pituitaryexpression of CTLA-4 mediates hypophysitis secondary to administration of CTLA-4 blocking antibody. Sci. Transl Med. 6, 230ra45 (2014)
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Alderton, G. Understanding side effects. Nat Rev Cancer 14, 298 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3738
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3738