Biological therapies have significantly improved the quality of life of patients with aggressive collagen vascular diseases. Blocking TNF activity may potentially confer a higher malignant potential for patients.
To identify patients to whom anti-TNF therapies were recently prescribed and were referred to a multidisciplinary lung cancer service.
Retrospective review of patients over an 18-month period who were referred to a multidisciplinary lung cancer service.
Three patients who underwent recent anti-TNF therapies and presented with solid organ tumours. All had significant additional risks for cancer including smoking and family history and active connective tissue diseases with a past history of immunosuppressive therapies.
Our series highlights the potential malignant risk of anti-TNF theraphy to a general medical audience.