# Case Report and Literature Review of Severe Anemia Secondary to Chemotherapy Combined with PD-1 Monoclonal Antibody Immunotherapy for Lung Adenocarcinoma

**Authors:** Yaowen HU, Jing ZHAO, Xiaoxing GAO, Yan XU, Mengzhao WANG

PMC · DOI: 10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2025.102.25 · 2025-06-30

## TL;DR

A lung cancer patient developed severe anemia after chemotherapy and PD-1 antibody treatment, which improved with high-dose steroids.

## Contribution

This case provides new clinical insights into managing rare anemia caused by PD-1 monoclonal antibody immunotherapy.

## Key findings

- A patient with lung adenocarcinoma developed severe anemia following chemotherapy and PD-1 antibody treatment.
- High-dose corticosteroid therapy led to significant improvement in hemoglobin levels.
- The case highlights the potential role of inflammatory anemia in immune-related adverse events.

## Abstract

程序性细胞死亡受体1（programmed cell death 1, PD-1）单抗治疗肺腺癌可能引起罕见而严重的血液学不良反应，可出现重症贫血等表现。尽管糖皮质激素被推荐用于免疫相关不良事件的管理，但针对PD-1单抗诱发的重症贫血的治疗经验仍十分有限，其疗效和安全性尚未充分验证。本文报道了1例化疗联合PD-1单抗治疗后发生重症贫血的晚期肺腺癌患者，经过系列检查，考虑诊断炎症性贫血，经足量糖皮质激素治疗后，血红蛋白显著回升，以期为临床中这类罕见血液学毒性的识别和治疗提供新的见解。

A: Pre-treatment chest CT (mediastinal window); B: Post-treatment chest CT (mediastinal window) after two cycles of immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. CT: computed tomography.

## Linked entities

- **Proteins:** PDCD1 (programmed cell death 1)
- **Diseases:** lung adenocarcinoma (MONDO:0005061)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** PDCD1 (programmed cell death 1) [NCBI Gene 5133] {aka ADMIO4, AIMTBS, CD279, PD-1, PD1, SLEB2}
- **Diseases:** Anemia (MESH:D000740), hematologic toxicity (MESH:D006402), Lung Adenocarcinoma (MESH:D000077192), AI (MESH:D007249)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Figures

2 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12257171/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12257171