Artificial Intelligence Approaches for Prediction and Detection of Immune-Related Adverse Events with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Cancer Therapy: A Narrative Review
Open Access
- 27 July 2026
- journal article
- review article
- Published by MDPI AG in Precision Oncology
- Vol. 1 (3) , 11
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have translated the scope of cancer therapy, but their immune-restorative mechanism can lead to immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which can affect several organs with varying severity. Early identification of patients at risk of irAEs is prudent to inform clinical decisions in precision oncology and remains a challenge as current clinical and biomarker methods still lack predictive accuracy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a promising strategy for improving early detection, risk stratification as well as monitoring of irAEs. This narrative review summarizes the current AI modalities for detecting and predicting irAEs risk occurring with ICI therapy, including clinical Machine Learning models, radiomics-based approaches, natural language processing (NLP) systems and the integration of modalities with multimodal AI frameworks. Clinical Machine Learning models demonstrate moderate predictive performance whereas radiomics-derived modeling appears promising for pneumonitis. NLP and language models have achieved higher accuracy for retrospective irAEs detection. Multimodal AI applications offer theoretical potential through diverse data integration that captures the complex biology of irAEs; however, current evidence is limited. All these modalities face limitations of inadequate sample sizes, retrospective design, heterogeneous outcome definitions, class imbalance, and insufficient external validation. AI-based models have significant potential for personalized immunotherapy monitoring but require prospective multicenter validation, standardized datasets and clinically interpretable frameworks prior to implementation. Future advances in multimodal modeling can also enable precise prediction and early detection of irAEs, ultimately improving the safety and effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.Keywords
This publication has 73 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effectiveness of electronic patient-reported outcomes in patients with cancer undergoing immunotherapy: a real-world retrospective studyInternational Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2026
- Clinical characteristics, outcomes, and predictive modeling of patients diagnosed with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy-related pneumonitisCancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, 2025
- Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor–Induced CardiotoxicityJAMA Oncology, 2024
- Enhancing Postmarketing Surveillance of Medical Products With Large Language ModelsJAMA Network Open, 2024
- Uses and limitations of artificial intelligence for oncologyCancer, 2024
- Using machine learning for mortality prediction and risk stratification in atezolizumab‐treated cancer patients: Integrative analysis of eight clinical trialsCancer Medicine, 2022
- Differentiation between immune checkpoint inhibitor‐related and radiation pneumonitis in lung cancer by CT radiomics and machine learningMedical Physics, 2022
- Radiation Versus Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Associated Pneumonitis: Distinct Radiologic MorphologiesThe Oncologist, 2021
- Fatal Toxic Effects Associated With Immune Checkpoint InhibitorsJAMA Oncology, 2018
- Radiomics to predict immunotherapy-induced pneumonitis: proof of conceptInvestigational New Drugs, 2017