Despite the fact that, currently, tuberculosis (TB) is a completely curable infectious disease, with a timely diagnosis and correct drug treatment, complications can occur in different places of the body, scientists warn. A new study, which will be presented in detail at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024) in Spain, has shown that there is an association between tuberculosis and several types of cancer, reports the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. It is, among others, lung, hematological, gynecological and colorectal cancer.
Tuberculosis (TB or TB) is an ancient disease, affecting humans more than 8,000 years ago, but since the discovery of antibiotics, important advances have been made in treating this serious infectious disease.
Most TB infections, completely curable
To date, most cases of tuberculosis are completely curable with timely diagnosis and correct drug treatment. However, warns the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), complications can occur in different anatomical sites, due to structural or vascular lesions, metabolic abnormalities and the inflammatory response of the body of TB patients.
“These complications may include an increased risk of cancer, which may be influenced by damage to host tissue and DNA and/or disruption of normal gene repair processes and growth factors present in the blood,” ESCMID representatives explain in a statement.
Some infections are already known to have the ability to cause tumors (for example, Helicobacter pylori or Salmonella spp), although several oncological conditions are attributed to viruses (Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus, HPV, HIV, Epstein-Barr virus, Cytomegalovirus etc.).
In the study to be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, which will take place later this month (27-30 April) in Barcelona, Spain, the authors investigated the association between the incidence of cancer and tuberculosis, compared with the incidence of oncological diseases in the general population, after some studies in mice showed that, for example, lung cancer can be induced by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (also known as Koch’s bacillus), the causative agent of tuberculosis.
The incidence of oncological diseases, almost doubled
Specifically, a team of researchers from South Korea retrospectively reviewed data from the National Health Insurance Service-National Health Information Database in this country, collected between 2010 and 2017. Thus, tuberculosis patients were defined as those with a TB disease code enter the system or are treated with two or more TB drugs for more than 28 days. The control group from the general population was randomly selected in a ratio of 1:5, respecting a similarity in terms of age, sex, income level, residence, etc.
The research authors analyzed the incidence of patients newly diagnosed with cancer after enrollment (post-tuberculosis diagnosis). The final analysis included a total of 72,542 TB patients and as many controls. The mean duration of follow-up was 67 months (about five and a half years), and the mean age of the TB patients was 62 years.
They found that compared to the general population, the incidence of cancer was significantly higher in TB patients: 80% higher for all cancers combined.
What are the most common malignancies?
The highest incidence was found in: lung cancer (3.6 times higher in those with pre-existing or active tuberculosis than in the general population), blood (haematological) cancers – 2.4 times higher – and cancer gynecological (2.2 times higher).
The South Korean researchers also found a 57% higher incidence for colorectal cancer, a 56% higher incidence for thyroid cancer, and a 55% higher incidence for esophageal and stomach cancer.
“TB is an independent risk factor for cancer, not only for lung cancer but also for various other types of cancer,” the research authors conclude, stressing that cancer screening and management should be warranted in TB patients.
Furthermore, the study identified several independent risk factors for cancer in people with TB. Among them are: current smoking (40% increased risk compared to non-smokers), excessive alcohol consumption (15% increased risk compared to regular alcohol consumption), chronic liver disease (42% increased risk compared to the absence of liver disease ) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – COPD (8% increased risk).
Long considered a disease of poverty, the active form of tuberculosis is favored by the decrease in the defense capacity of the immune system, and doctors are increasingly reporting forms of the disease resistant to treatment, with a reserved prognosis.
Tags: risk cancer patients tuberculosis
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