RESEARCH - Cancer risk not affected by anti-TNF therapies for RA

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Cancer Risk Not Affected by Anti-TNF Therapies for Rheumatoid Arthritis

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Nov 18 - Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)

agents do not increase the risk of cancer during the first few years

of use for rheumatoid arthritis, according to one of the largest and

longest duration population-based assessments to study this issue.

As explained in the November issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism, the

effect of anti-TNF agents on cancers during early treatment " might be

due to existing preclinical tumors becoming clinically manifest,

either by allowing more actual tumor growth or by influencing the

development of clinical symptoms as a result of the presence of the

cancer, rather than being due to the occurrence of a new cancer. "

Dr. Johan Askling, from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm,

and co-investigators investigated whether the risk increases with the

time since start of therapy by linking data from the Swedish Biologics

Register, Swedish registers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and the

Swedish Cancer Register.

The researchers analyzed cancer occurrence in a national cohort of

6366 RA patients older than 16 years who initiated anti-TNF therapy

between 1999 and 2006. This cohort was compared to three other RA

cohorts: patients naive to biologics therapy (61,160), patients newly

starting therapy with methotrexate (5989), and patients newly starting

disease-modifying antirheumatic drug combinations (1838).

During a median follow-up of 3.6 years (maximum 8 years; total 25,693

person-years), 240 first cancers occurred in the anti-TNF group.

Overall and during the first 2 years following the start of TNF

blockers, patients had a cancer risk that was similar to the other

three RA comparator groups.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/712631

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