Autoimmunity and Cancer: Two Stations on the Same Continuum.

Abstract

Autoimmunity has been associated with different types of cancer, including hematological malignancies like lymphomas, and solid tumors. Additionally, the potential role of medication-induced immunosuppression should be considered. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between autoimmunity and the development of cancer, as well as the impact of immunosuppressive drugs on increasing cancer risk. The study sample was composed of patients who developed cancer after the administration of biological agents for the treatment of autoimmune disorders. Selected patients were treated in our hospital between 1st January 2011 and 31st December 2021 and followed up in internal medicine, gastroenterology, or dermatology consult. From 434 patients with autoimmune diseases using biological agents, only 20 developed cancer, which was our final study sample. The data analysis was performed using the IQVIR package version 2.0.2 (IQVIA, Durham, NC). A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. We found a significant correlation between long-term corticosteroid therapy and an increased risk of cancer. However, the effect of biological therapies on cancer risk was not statistically significant. It's worth noting that our sample size was small, so we cannot extrapolate these findings. Physicians need to be aware that treating autoimmune diseases with immunosuppressive therapies may contribute to the development of cancer. Further research is needed to determine the impact of such treatments on cancer prognosis.