Alert Number 108
Date: July 19, 2005
This latest article (abstract below) should come as no surprise to you, if you have been following our discussion thread linking fludarabine therapy with deep immune suppression, and the resulting window of opportunity for serious infections and secondary cancers. To recap:
You may not always have a choice about avoiding immune suppressive drugs. What should you do? Try and protect yourself against potential problems down the road by taking sensible precautions.
Information is power. Below are a bunch of links to help you get started.
What You and Your Oncologist Need to Know about CLL
Fludarabine Monotherapy No Longer the Gold Standard
Dying to Get a Tan?
Vitamin D3 Essential for Health
Viral Drivers
Are We There Yet?
Be well,
Chaya
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Leuk Lymphoma. 2005 Jul;46(7):1051-5.
Accelerated growth of skin carcinoma following fludarabine therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Rashid K, Ng R, Mastan A, Sager D, Hirschman R.
We present four patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with fludarabine, who developed aggressive skin cancer after years of quiescence, a short time after institution of treatment. Their leukemias responded well to therapy with fludarabine with initial treatment as well as relapse. Three patients had recurrence with basal cell carcinomas with multiple, rapidly growing tumors and one had recurrence of both basal and squamous cancers and eventually died of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. Fludarabine induces prolonged period of lymphopenia, affecting especially the T cell population, which is crucial in the defense against skin cancers. There appears to be a direct association between fludarabine and the flare up of skin cancers in these patients, possibly analogous to the increased incidence of these malignancies in patients on chronic cyclosporine immunosuppression.
PMID: 16019557
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