CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1624185
Immune-mediated Gastritis in a Patient with Breast Cancer due to Therapy with immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Pembrolizumab: a case report
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
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The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in the treatment of malignant tumors is becoming more widespread, and the management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) has become an important concern in oncological treatments. Here we present a 44-year-old female patient with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), who developed severe nausea and vomiting symptoms after pembrolizumab treatment. Gastroscopy showed extensive exfoliation, redness, and swelling of the gastric mucosa. Histology suggested complete destruction of the gastric mucosa and a large number of immune cells infiltration. After excluding other differential diagnoses, we considered the diagnosis of immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated gastritis. In responding to methylprednisolone treatment, her symptoms improved, and a repeated gastroscopy suggested repair in gastric mucosa, but demonstrated autoimmune gastritis-like manifestations. This case report describes a rare case of ICI-mediated gastritis. The importance of early endoscopy is emphasised and hormonal therapy remains the mainstay of treatment for this patient.
Keywords: Gastritis, immune checkpoint inhibitors, Pembrolizumab, Glucocorticoids, case report
Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 02 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Wang and Chen. 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: Ning Chen, chenning79@bjmu.edu.cn
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