Sometimes, we have no other alternative other than blaming our destiny. And often, even science finds it difficult to present a proper explanation of such events. For instance, we know that rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic joint disease, which can lead to a permanent deformity of the joints, but we do not know the definite reason why it may hit us. And science has found an easy explanation by describing it as an autoimmune disease.
We have no way to stay protected from rheumatoid arthritis and those who are already suffering from it, may only experience phases of relapse and remissions. And even if we try to tame it for a modest period, the treatment will backfire, causing serious diseases like skin cancer. Hence, it's a second evil which tries to possess you when you intend to fight off the first one.
A study, which got published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, claimed that biological agents like tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors or the drugs which act on the immune system, may have an influence on cancer risk. Researchers came out with this conclusion after evaluating the data from various clinical databases.
The TNF inhibitors included monoclonal antibodies infliximab and adalimumab and the protein etanercept. As a whole, researchers considered information pertaining to more than 40,000 patients, who were exposed to these TNF inhibitors for roughly 150,000 cumulative years.
In four of these studies, it was revealed that patients, who were on a dosage of TNF inhibitors had a 45 percent higher risk of contracting skin cancer other than melanoma while two other studies suggested that individuals taking these drugs, had a 79 percent higher chance of contracting a melanoma in comparison to those who did not take these medications.
Researchers clarified that TNF inhibitors did not increase the risk of malignancy especially lymphoma, but it did appear to raise the risk of skin cancer including melanoma. A lot of additional researches may follow to find out more on this issue, but we still have no reason to sit back relaxed on an easy chair. Who knows, future researches may reveal that some drugs actually act to enhance the crippling effect of rheumatoid arthritis.
