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TNF inhibitors associated with skin cancers, not lymphoma
Mariette X. Ann Rheum Dis. 2011;doi:10.1136/ard.2010.149419.
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The use of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors to treat inflammatory diseases does not seem to be associated with an increased risk for malignancies, particularly lymphoma. However, there may be some increased risk for skin cancers, including melanoma, associated with the treatment, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Researchers have observed an increased risk for some cancers among people with inflammatory arthritis. However the cause of this increase is still unknown, particularly the role that tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, used to treat arthritis, may play. To further explore this association, researchers conducted a systematic review of prospective observational studies in patients assigned the drugs for inflammatory arthritis.
Study findings are based on 21 studies and eight conference abstracts, which reported on 40,000 patients cumulatively.
Overall, pooled data indicated that patients taking TNF inhibitors were at no increased risk for developing malignancies (incidence rate/1,000 patient-years=0.95; 95% CI, 0.85-1.05). Two studies indicated that there was no evidence that patients taking TNF inhibitors over the long term were at increased risk for cancer either. And although patients who previously had cancer before were more likely to be diagnosed with the disease again, this was not affected by the use of TNF inhibitors.
However, some other cancer-related trends were observed. Data from four studies indicated that patients treated with these drugs were 45% more likely to develop a non-melanoma skin cancer (95% CI, 1.15-1.76), and data from two other studies indicated that these patients were at a 79% increased risk for developing melanoma (95% CI, 0.92-2.67) compared with those not taking these drugs.
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