[JimNY]

Kidney cancer and multiple myeloma - potential link

by JimNY on Mon Aug 18, 2014 11:40 pm

I came across something this evening that I didn't know about multiple myeloma and thought I would share it with everyone.

Apparently, people who develop the most common form of kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) are at a higher risk of developing multiple myeloma, and vice versa. That is, people who develop multiple myeloma are at a higher risk of developing renal cell carcinoma.

This paper,

Padhi et al., "Renal cell carcinoma and plasma cell myeloma: Unique association and clinical implications," Urol Ann. 2014 Jul-Sep; 6(3): 252–256

explains that

"Population-based data have revealed a bi-directional association between these two malignancies, which points to shared risk factors, similar cytokine (Interleukin-6, IL-6) requirements for growth and survival, and overlapping clinical presentation."

The paper discusses two case studies, but is perhaps most useful because it's bibliography is available. There you can find a listing of studies that have looked into the subject, including this one,

Ojha et al., "The association between renal cell carcinoma and multiple myeloma: insights from population-based data,"BJU International, September 2011, Volume 108, Issue 6, pages 825–830

which looks at data from the U.S. cancer registries and finds "a bidirectional association between renal cell carcinoma and multiple myeloma, which typically indicates shared risk factors."

You learn something new every day about this disease!