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No Increased Cancer Risk for Patients Taking Lupus Drugs

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Patients’ fear of a relationship between lupus medication and cancer addressed in recent study

Results from a landmark study led by scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) show that people who take immunosuppressive drugs to treat systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) do not necessarily increase their cancer risk.

“Treatment for lupus consists largely of immunosuppressive medications, which lower the body’s immune response,” explains Dr Sasha Bernatsky, a researcher within the divisions of clinical epidemiology and rheumatology at the RI-MUHC and at McGill University, as well as first and corresponding author of the study.

Previous research has suggested that lupus patients have an increased risk of developing cancer, particularly lymphoma. Thus, fear of developing cancer among lupus patients has been so great that some were reluctant to take their medication and others stopped altogether, according to Dr Ann E. Clarke, director of the MUHC lupus clinic and study coleader.

The international study, which was published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, included 75 lupus patients with lymphoma from different centers around the world. Almost 5000 cancer-free lupus patients were involved in the study as a control. Bernatsky and colleagues examined most of the drugs commonly used to treat SLE, including cyclophosphamide.

The risk for lymphoma in lupus patients exposed to cyclophosphamide was less than 0.1% per year, according to study results. Furthermore, no clear association was detected between lupus disease activity and lymphoma risk.

“People have been wondering for a long time whether the medications were to blame and the results are reassuring, suggesting that most lymphoma cases in SLE are not triggered by drug exposures,” says Bernatsky.

Source: McGill University Health Centre.