Drug & supplement interaction

Indole-3-carbinol + Ipilimumab

Ipilimumab brand name: Yervoy.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 20, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Ipilimumab and Indole-3-carbinol in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Indole-3-carbinol safety at a glance

Indole-3-carbinol overall Use caution Likely fine in food amounts, but supplement doses are less studied and should be used cautiously.
Pregnancy Avoid Not enough safety data and possible hormone effects, so concentrated supplements should be avoided.
Breastfeeding Avoid Safety has not been established, so supplement use is not recommended while breastfeeding.

Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Ipilimumab and Indole-3-carbinol? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
Keep it in perspective

Indole-3-carbinol Does Interact With Other Medications

Indole-3-carbinol has 294 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Ipilimumab isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 294 No known interaction 2,536 (incl. Ipilimumab)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Indole-3-carbinol

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Indole-3-carbinol. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Diarrhea reported in 7.3% of FDA reports for Ipilimumab Additional detail

    Indole-3-carbinol

    “Orally, indole-3-carbinol increases gastrointestinal motility and has been associated with diarrhea.”

    Indole-3-carbinol · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.

    2 sources cited
    1. 93242. Reed GA, Peterson KS, Smith HJ, et al. A phase I study of indole-3-carbinol in women: tolerability and effects. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14:1953-60. PubMed
    2. 93243. Bradlow HL, Michnovicz JJ, Halper M, et al. Long-term responses of women to indole-3-carbinol or a high fiber diet. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1994;3:591-5.

    Ipilimumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Ipilimumab, and in voluntary FDA adverse-event reports. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • A skin rash reported in 4.2% of FDA reports for Ipilimumab Additional detail

    Indole-3-carbinol

    “Orally, indole-3-carbinol has been associated with reports of rash. A woman taking indole-3-carbinol 375 mg daily for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) developed a generalized maculopapular rash which resolved when indole-3-carbinol was discontinued and recurred when it was restarted.”

    Indole-3-carbinol · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in myasthenia gravis.

    2 sources cited
    1. 93242. Reed GA, Peterson KS, Smith HJ, et al. A phase I study of indole-3-carbinol in women: tolerability and effects. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14:1953-60. PubMed
    2. 93240. McAlindon TE, Gulin J, Chen T, et al. Indole-3-carbinol in women with SLE: effect on estrogen metabolism and disease activity. Lupus 2001;10:779-83. PubMed

    Ipilimumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Ipilimumab, and in voluntary FDA adverse-event reports. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Nausea Additional detail

    Indole-3-carbinol

    “Indole-3-carbinol has been associated with reports of unsteadiness and imbalance, especially at higher doses. An adult male taking 400 mg twice daily for treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis developed imbalance and tremor after 10 days of treatment. This resolved when the dose was halved.”

    Indole-3-carbinol · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in myasthenia gravis.

    2 sources cited
    1. 7172. Rosen CA, Woodson GE, Thompson JW, et al. Preliminary results of the use of indole-3-carbinol for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1998;118:810-5. PubMed
    2. 93238. Anon. Indole-3-carbinol. Monograph. Alternative Medicine Review 2005;10(4):337-42.

    Ipilimumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Ipilimumab. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Indole-3-carbinol but not commonly for Ipilimumab: unsteadiness and tremor or shakiness.

Effects for Ipilimumab come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Indole-3-carbinol come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 42,912 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Ipilimumab that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Overlapping uses

What Ipilimumab Is Prescribed For, and What Indole-3-carbinol Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Ipilimumab is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Indole-3-carbinol is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Ipilimumab is prescribed for: Yervoy (ipilimumab) is used to treat a range of advanced cancers. As a single agent, Yervoy treats unresectable (cannot be surgically removed) or metastatic melanoma in adults and children 12 and older, and is also used as adjuvant (after-surgery) treatment in adults with melanoma that has spread to nearby lymph nodes. Most of its other uses are in combination with nivolumab. In combination with nivolumab, Yervoy is indicated for advanced renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), MSI-H or dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer (in adults and children 12+), unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, and unresectable advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Read the rest of what Ipilimumab is prescribed for

Some of these uses require tumor testing for specific markers (such as PD-L1 expression or MSI-H/dMMR status) before treatment begins.

Indole-3-carbinol has been studied for:

  • Colorectal cancer studied, not established Indole-3-carbinol has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Indole-3-carbinol for colorectal cancer

    Although there has been interest in using oral indole-3-carbinol for colorectal cancer, there is insufficient reliable information about the clinical effects of indole-3-carbinol for this purpose.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Ipilimumab on your own; if you are taking Indole-3-carbinol for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

One more smart check

Taking Indole-3-carbinol as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 287 real supplement products containing Indole-3-carbinol, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Indole-3-carbinol. Even though Indole-3-carbinol itself has no known interaction with Ipilimumab, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Indole-3-carbinol
Top half

#400 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Ipilimumab
Top 25%

#370 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Indole-3-carbinol reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Indole-3-carbinol

What is Indole-3-carbinol?

  • Estrogen and hormone balance support
  • Breast and cervical health
  • Prostate health
  • Antioxidant and 'detox' support
  • General cancer-prevention interest

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is a compound formed when you eat cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, and it is sold as a supplement mainly for hormone-related and cell-protective effects. Most human evidence is preliminary or comes from lab and animal studies, so it should not be relied on to prevent or treat any disease. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using it, and avoid it in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Brassicaceae · Derived from glucosinolates found in cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower) · Capsules, tablets, softgels; sometimes combined with or compared to diindolylmethane (DIM)

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Indole-3-carbinol is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Indole-3-carbinol record says about it on its own.

Indole-3-carbinol: dosing

There is no officially established or standardized dose for I3C. Different products and studies have used different amounts, and there is no agreed-upon 'best' dose.The safest approach is to follow the directions on the product label and not exceed them. They can help you decide whether I3C is appropriate for you.

From our Indole-3-carbinol monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Indole-3-carbinol monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Ipilimumab Injection

What Is Ipilimumab Injection Used For?

Brand name: Yervoy

Yervoy (ipilimumab) is used to treat a range of advanced cancers. As a single agent, Yervoy treats unresectable (cannot be surgically removed) or metastatic melanoma in adults and children 12 and older, and is also used as adjuvant (after-surgery) treatment in adults with melanoma that has spread to nearby lymph nodes. Most of its other uses are in combination with nivolumab.

In combination with nivolumab, Yervoy is indicated for advanced renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), MSI-H or dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer (in adults and children 12+), unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, and unresectable advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Some of these uses require tumor testing for specific markers (such as PD-L1 expression or MSI-H/dMMR status) before treatment begins.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Ipilimumab

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (42,912 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Malignant neoplasm progression 3,782 reports
Diarrhea 3,128 reports
Colitis 2,316 reports
Fever 2,057 reports
Rash 1,805 reports
See full Ipilimumab Injection drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Indole-3-carbinol

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Indole-3-carbinol — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
294Moderate
0Minor
2,535No known interaction
294 Moderate 2,535 No interaction
Moderate

294 interactions

Showing 60 of 294 moderate interactions — see all 294 on the Indole-3-carbinol page.

No interaction 2,535 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Indole-3-carbinol against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,535 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Indole-3-carbinol list.

See the full Indole-3-carbinol interactions page
See every supplement checked against Ipilimumab, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Indole-3-carbinol References

The 9 references that drive our Indole-3-carbinol monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Rosen CA, Woodson GE, Thompson JW, et al. Preliminary results of the use of indole-3-carbinol for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1998;118:810-5. PubMed
  2. Bell MC, Crowley-Nowick P, Bradlow HL, et al. Placebo-controlled trial of indole-3-carbinol in the treatment of CIN. Gynecol Oncol 2000;78:123-9. PubMed
  3. He YH, Friesen MD, Ruch RJ, Schut HA. Indole-3-carbinol as a chemopreventive agent in 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) carcinogenesis: inhibition of PhIP-DNA adduct formation, acceleration of PhIP metabolism, and induction of cytoch
  4. Kim, Y. S. and Milner, J. A. Targets for indole-3-carbinol in cancer prevention. J.Nutr.Biochem. 2005;16(2):65-73. PubMed
  5. Anon. Indole-3-carbinol. Monograph. Alternative Medicine Review 2005;10(4):337-42.
  6. McAlindon TE, Gulin J, Chen T, et al. Indole-3-carbinol in women with SLE: effect on estrogen metabolism and disease activity. Lupus 2001;10:779-83. PubMed
  7. Reed GA, Peterson KS, Smith HJ, et al. A phase I study of indole-3-carbinol in women: tolerability and effects. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14:1953-60. PubMed
  8. Bradlow HL, Michnovicz JJ, Halper M, et al. Long-term responses of women to indole-3-carbinol or a high fiber diet. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1994;3:591-5.
  9. Paliwal P, Chauhan G, Gautam D, Dash D, Patne SCU, Krishnamurthy S. Indole-3-carbinol improves neurobehavioral symptoms in a cerebral ischemic stroke model. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2018;391(6):613-625. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Indole-3-carbinol with Ipilimumab?
We do not list a known interaction between Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 3 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Are Indole-3-carbinol and Ipilimumab used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Indole-3-carbinol in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Ipilimumab is being adjusted to a target.
Does Indole-3-carbinol interact with any other medications?
Yes. Indole-3-carbinol has 294 documented drug interactions in our database — Ipilimumab is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Indole-3-carbinol monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Ipilimumab Injection drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Ipilimumab supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Ipilimumab, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 9 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.