Aus-REISAMIC:
understanding immunotherapy side-effects better

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a new class of cancer medication. They are in the category of immunotherapy, which means that they activate the immune system (the body’s defence system) in order to attack the cancer. In activating the immune system, as a side effect they can also attack unrelated parts of the body, creating inflammatory problems called autoimmune disease. Very little is known about these autoimmune side effects and how they might be best treated. It is a difficult balance to activate the immune system so that it can continue to attack the cancer, but to change it to stop creating autoimmune disease.

Aus-REISAMIC is an Australian registry designed to describe the side effects that patients experience after receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors and to see how they respond to treatment. Doctors treating patients with these side effects will report clinical information to the registry. This will allow patterns to emerge between patients with similar side effects, and therefore will allow doctors to better classify these side effects in the future. This information will also show which treatments work best in different situations.

This study is designed to match with a similar study in France, so that these patterns can be easier to understand and more certain. Aus-REISAMIC is hosted at Austin Health, Melbourne and is primarily subject to ethical governance through the Austin Human Research Ethics Committee.