The Relationship Between Immunodepression and the Development of Skin Cancer

• Main Authors: Maria Mendonça Sanches, Ana Rita Travassos, Luis Soares-de-Almeida
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ordem dos Médicos 2017-01-01
• Series: Acta Médica Portuguesa
• Subjects: Imunossupressão/efeitos adversos; Imunossupressores; Neoplasias da Pele
• Online Access: http://actamedicaportuguesa.com/revista/index.php/amp/article/view/7997

The effects of immunodepression on several disease states have constituted an important area of research, leading to the identification of relevant associations between immunodepression and a vast set of comorbidities, including infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Research on the effects of immunodepression has mostly been conducted in individuals under immunodepression by the human immunodeficiency virus and transplant recipients under pharmacological immunosuppression, due to the difficulties in obtaining relevant samples sizes in other contexts of immunodepression. Overall, immunosuppressed individuals tend to show increased incidence of malignancies, but only transplant recipients show significantly increased incidence of skin cancer; human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals only show increased incidence of malignancies of infectious origin. This paper presents a literature review on the effects of immunodepression in the development of tumours in humans, with special emphasis on the development of the different types of skin cancer.