Molecular pathways of immune checkpoint inhibitor–induced hepatitis.

Abstract

2573 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) related hepatitis is a clinically significant immune-related adverse event (irAE) and a common cause of treatment interruption. It occurs in roughly 5 to 10 percent of patients receiving anti PD-(L)1 monotherapy and in up to one third of those treated with combination ICI therapy. Despite increasing clinical recognition, the molecular mechanisms and predictive factors underlying ICI hepatitis remain poorly defined. The Montreal Immune-Related Adverse Events (MIRAE)-led hepatitis project aims to characterize the immune cell populations and underlying transcriptional programs associated with ICI-hepatitis pathogenesis. Methods: This translational study is conducted within the MIRAE biobank, a prospective multicenter cohort of ICI-treated patients with and without irAEs. The hepatitis cohort includes patients with longitudinal plasma samples collected at baseline, on treatment, and at irAE onset. Ongoing immune profiling efforts include plasma-based cytokine and chemokine analysis, high-throughput plasma proteomics, and single cell RNA sequencing of PBMCs. Preliminary analysis focused on plasma proteomics. Five patients with high-grade ICI-hepatitis and five ICI-treated controls without irAEs were selected and matched by age, sex, and primary tumor. Plasma samples were analyzed using the SomaScan 11K assay to identify differentially expressed proteins and enriched immune pathways. Results: ICI-related hepatitis was clinically severe, requiring systemic corticosteroids in all cases and additional immunosuppressive therapies in most patients. ICI-hepatitis cases showed significantly higher plasma levels of liver injury markers, including ALT and AST, compared with matched controls. Widespread alterations were observed in the circulating proteome, with strong upregulation of liver-enriched proteins and inflammatory mediators. Gene set enrichment analyses revealed enrichment of liver-associated pathways including xenobiotic and bile acid metabolism, as well as IL-12 signaling, interferon-α and γ, neutrophil-associated pathways, and liver-resident macrophage signatures. Pathway analysis of single cell data revealed enhanced cytotoxic activity of CD8 T cells during ICI hepatitis, as exemplified by upregulation of the CTL and IL-6 pathways. Conclusions: ICI-hepatitis was associated with circulating immune signature characterized by liver injury markers, inflammatory mediators, and enrichment of innate immune pathways. These findings provide molecular insight into the immunopathogenesis of ICI hepatitis and inform future biomarker discovery, druggable pathways, and risk stratification.