INFO - Biologics and cancer risk: is there a relationship?

[Guest guest]

Arthritis Foundation

31 Aug 2007

Biologics and Cancer Risk: Is There a Relationship?

The short answer to that question is " we don't really know yet. " But

the more important question to ask yourself is " What is the potential

risk compared with the potential benefit? Am I willing to take that

risk? "

In the September issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, Frederic Wolfe, MD,

of National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases and University of Kansas

School of Medicine, Wichita, and Kaleb Michaud, PhD, of the University

of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, presented results of a study

indicating an increased risk of skin cancer in people receiving

biologic therapy. Using data from more than 13,000 people with

rheumatoid arthritis, they determined that biologic therapy is

associated with increased risk for both melanoma and non-melanoma skin

cancers, but not for solid tumors, lymphomas or leukemias. These

associations were consistent across different biologic therapies.

This is in contrast to a study published in March of this year that

showed the rate of cancer was not increased in those with inflammatory

arthritis compared with the general population of Norfolk, United

Kingdom. Of note, however, this study excluded non-melanoma skin

cancers from their data collection. Although the rate of cancer was

not increased, it was found that after adjusting for age, sex and site

of cancer, patients with inflammatory arthritis had a 40 percent

increased risk of dying compared with the general Norfolk population

with cancer.

, MD, MPH, and Soko Setoguchi, MD, DrPH, of Brigham and

Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, using an

Arthritis Foundation research grant, studied the risk of developing

cancer in people with RA who take tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-á)

medications. They found that people taking anti-TNF-á drugs had no

greater risk of developing cancer than people taking methotrexate. Of

the mortality findings presented in March, Dr. commented that

" It would further our understanding of both RA and cancer if we could

better understand the relationship between these two disease

processes. It is clear that recognizing the increased mortality risk

is an important step, but much work remains to be done to uncover the

reasons behind the increased risk so preventive action can be taken. "

Dr. Wolfe, when asked by WebMD about the importance of his study,

said, " If there is a real message in these studies, it is that the

overall risk of cancer is small in rheumatoid arthritis patients. The

overall effect is to say things are much the same as they have been

over the last several decades. That is reassuring with these new

drugs. ... I don't think people should be concerned. It may be these

drugs turn out to be safe. It looks as though they are, and I am not

particularly worried. "

http://www.arthritis.org/biologics-cancer.php

--

Not an MD

[Guest guest]

I was diagnosed with breast cancer about six months after I was

diagnosed with RA. I had not been on any RA meds for very long, and it

was just mtx. I have often wondered if there was any connection between

the RA and the cancer. I thought maybe my immune system was so busy

fighting against itself that it didn't have time to fight the cancer.

But I am just speculating, because I always like to know the reasons

behind things. Sometimes you can't know, though.

Sue

On Monday, July 21, 2008, at 10:39 PM, wrote:

>

> They found that people taking anti-TNF-¦Á drugs had no

> greater risk of developing cancer than people taking methotrexate. Of

> the mortality findings presented in March, Dr. commented that

> " It would further our understanding of both RA and cancer if we could

> better understand the relationship between these two disease

> processes. It is clear that recognizing the increased mortality risk

> is an important step, but much work remains to be done to uncover the

> reasons behind the increased risk so preventive action can be taken. "