shortness of breath as side effect of immunotherapy

jupiter

having trouble with shortness of breath....as long as I just sit around I'm okay but as soon as I start to get up and do stuff I find myself panting for air. any suggestions would be appreciated. Doc has me on steroid to help

agness

what drug/s are you on?

Sorry you arent feeling well

JohnSmith

Based on the other thread here, she appears to be using the Immunotherapy drug called "Nivolumab" (Brand name is: "Opdivo")

Like Keytruda, it's a Monoclonal antibody and acts as a checkpoint inhibitor, targeting the PD-1 protein on T cells (a kind of immune cell). The drugs remove biological blockades that keep T cells from attacking cancer.

It's still relatively new and only approved by the FDA for:
1. Melanoma.
2. Squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
3. Kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma).

Opdivo is being used in the following three breast cancer clinical trials:

1. A Phase 1, Open-Label, Multicenter, Safety Study of Nivolumab (BMS-936558) in Combination With Nab-Paclitaxel Plus or Minus Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer, Nab-Paclitaxel / Carboplatin in Stage IIIB/IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer or Nab-Paclitaxel in Metastatic Breast Cancer [138 patients]

2. A Phase 1 Study Evaluating Safety, Tolerability, and Preliminary Antitumor Activity of Entinostat and Nivolumab With or Without Ipilimumab in Advanced Solid Tumors [45 patients]

3. Adaptive Phase II Randomized Non-comparative Trial of Nivolumab After Induction Treatment in Triple-negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) Patients: TONIC-trial [84 patients]

* Common side effects of Opdivo include shortness of breath. Not sure what can be done about that, other than reporting the SE to your doctor.
Hopefully others can provide suggestions.