Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Clinical Advance
  • Published:

Are patients with RA at increased risk of malignancy?

Nature Clinical Practice Rheumatology volume 4, pages 632–633 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Recently, Smitten and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of the risk of cancer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with that in the general population. The authors found no important differences in the overall risk of cancer in patients with RA. However, the risk of lymphoma and lung cancer seemed to be increased, whereas colorectal cancer and breast cancer risk was decreased. With recent changes in the therapeutic approach to RA, concern has been raised about the role of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapies in inducing or increasing the risk of lymphoma and other malignancies. However, it is important to consider the baseline risk of these malignancies in patients with RA when placing the risk of new therapies into context.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Isomaki HA et al. (1978) Excess risk of lymphomas, leukemia and myeloma in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Chronic Dis 31: 691–696

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Smitten AL et al. (2008) A meta-analysis of the incidence of malignancy in adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Res Ther 10: R45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Franklin J et al. (2006) Incidence of lymphoma in a large primary care derived cohort of cases of inflammatory polyarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 65: 617–622

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Baecklund E et al. (1998) Disease activity and risk of lymphoma in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: nested case-control study. BMJ 317: 180–181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Balkwill F (2002) Tumor necrosis factor or tumor promoting factor. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev 13: 135–141

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Eggermont AM et al. (2003) Current uses of isolated limb perfusion in the clinic and a model system for new strategies. Lancet Oncol 4: 429–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Brown ER et al. (2008) A clinical study assessing the tolerability and biological effects of infliximab, a TNF-alpha inhibitor, in patients with advanced cancer. Ann Oncol 19: 1340–1346

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Arthritis Research Campaign, Epidemiology Unit, Stopford Building, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK kimme.hyrich@manchester.ac.uk

Authors and Affiliations

  1. KL Hyrich is a Senior Lecturer in Rheumatic Disease Epidemiology at the University of Manchester and a Consultant in Rheumatology at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK.,

    Kimme L Hyrich

Authors
  1. Kimme L Hyrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hyrich, K. Are patients with RA at increased risk of malignancy?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 4, 632–633 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncprheum0924

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncprheum0924

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing