Cancer specific risk in multiple sclerosis patients

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic central nervous system (CNS) autoimmune disease. Studies of cancer risk in MS patients have shown inconsistent findings. A pubmed search of the literature on cancer risk in patients with MS was conducted and found published relative studies. The majority of these studies concluded that there was overall either reduced or no increased risk of developing malignancies between patients with MS compared to the general population. However, several studies suggested that patients with MS may have reduced risk in specific cancers such as of the digestive and respiratory organs, prostate, ovary, or increased risk in breast, brain and bladder tumors. At present it is uncertain if the immunologic profile of MS patients may be related to the increased or reduced frequency of some cancers and warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Cancer risk; Immunomodulation; Multiple sclerosis.