Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Treatment Does Not Increase Cancer Risk In RA Patients, Karolinska University Hospital Study

EurekAlert -- A recent study by Swedish researchers found that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients did not experience an elevated cancer risk in the first 6 years after starting anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy. The research team, led by Johan Askling, M.D., Ph.D., from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden assessed the short-term and medium-term cancer risk for RA patients using anti-TNF therapies: infliximab, adalimumab, and etanercept. Details of the study appear in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology published by Wiley-Blackwell.