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Ocular squamous cell carcinoma more likely in renal transplant patients, study finds
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Ocular squamous cell carcinoma is more common among kidney transplant patients than healthy subjects, according to a study by researchers in Australia. Because the cancer is already known to be more common among patients with HIV infection, the new finding strongly suggests that it is an immune deficiency-associated cancer, the authors noted.
Claire M. Vajdic, PhD, and colleagues compared rates of ocular squamous cell carcinoma among 10,180 renal transplantation patients identified in the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry and the Australian National Cancer Statistics Clearing House, according to the study.
Five patients were diagnosed with ocular squamous cell carcinoma after kidney transplantation for a 20-fold increased incidence among these patients, according to the study.
Additionally, the five cancer patients were more likely to have the following in common: 60% resided in the subtropical state of Queensland, compared with 17% of the entire cohort; all had end-stage kidney disease due to glomerulonephritis, compared with 46% of the entire cohort; and all had a history of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, compared with 29% of the entire cohort, the authors reported.
"Our data also support an interaction between immune suppression and sun exposure in the development of ocular [squamous cell carcinoma] after kidney transplantation," they said.
The study is published online ahead of print on the Web site for Journal of the National Cancer Institute.