Impact of oseltamivir on the risk of cancer

Pei-Hua Chuang; Bor-Show Tzang; Chih-Chen Tzang; Chun-Ching Chiu; Chun-Yu Lin; Tsai-Ching Hsu

doi:10.3389/fonc.2024.1329986

Impact of oseltamivir on the risk of cancer

Front Oncol. 2024 Feb 26:14:1329986. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1329986. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Pei-Hua Chuang¹, Bor-Show Tzang^{1

2

3

4}, Chih-Chen Tzang⁵, Chun-Ching Chiu^{1

6}, Chun-Yu Lin^{7

8}, Tsai-Ching Hsu^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
² Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁴ Immunology Research Center, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁵ School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Neurology and Department of Medical Intensive Care Unit, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.
⁷ Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁸ School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Purpose: Mounting evidence has revealed the anti-cancer activity of various anti-viral drugs. Oseltamivir phosphate (OP), namely Tamiflu^®, is routinely used to combat influenza infections. Although evidence has indicated the anti-cancer effects of OP in vitro and in vivo, little information is known about the effect of OP use on cancers in humans.

Methods: A nationwide population-based cohort study involving 13,977,101 cases with 284,733 receiving OP was performed to examine the association between OP use and cancers using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan between 2009 and 2018.

Results: The cohort study found that OP users showed a significantly lower incidence of lung cancer, colon cancer, liver, and intrahepatic bile duct cancer, oral cancer, pancreas cancer, esophagus cancer, stomach cancer, and prostate cancer. Additionally, OP users exhibited a lower risk of cancer-related mortality (adjusted HR=0.779; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.743-0.817; p<0.001) and a reduced risk of developing liver cancer (adjusted HR=0.895; 95% CI 0.824-0.972; p=0.008), esophagus cancer (adjusted HR=0.646; 95% CI 0.522-0.799; p<0.001) and oral cancer (adjusted HR=0.587; 95% CI 0.346-0.995; p=0.048). Notably, OP users had a significant reduction in liver cancer occurrence over a 10-year period follow-up and a lower cancer stage at liver cancer diagnosis.

Conclusion: These findings first suggest the beneficial effects and therapeutic potential of OP use for certain cancers, especially liver cancer.

Keywords: anti-viral drugs; cancer; cohort study; liver cancer; oseltamivir phosphate (OP).

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported in part by Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan (grant no. M108N0044). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.