Cancer Connections
The following connections have been discovered.
Published Cancer Associations
- Non-Hodgkin's/B-Cell Lymphomas (Chang 2012) (Levine 1998)
Editor's Comment
Two studies, Chang 2012 and Levine 1998, associated ME/CFS with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).
Chang 2012 associated ME/CFS with an increased incidence of NHL in older patients. The NHL subtypes were all B cell lymphomas, specifically, diffuse large B cell lymphoma, marginal zone lymphoma, and unspecified B cell NHL. They did not find increased risk of any other cancer types in ME/CFS patients after statistical controls. The increased lymphoma risk held even after adjusting for the increased incidence of autoimmune diseases in ME/CFS. Chang 2012 also identified increased rates of rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren's syndrome in CFS.
Levine 1998 found an increased incidence of NHL and brain cancer in areas where CFS outbreaks ocurred in the 1980s. (Since the brain cancer finding has not been replicated, it is not included in the list above.) The 1998 study conflicted with earlier studies by the same authors which found no increased rate of cancer. The 1998 study was more granular than the earlier negative studies, by comparing counties where the 1980s outbreak of CFS occurred, instead of comparing statewide rates.
The fact that NHL is associated with ME/CFS in two different studies, 14 years apart, using very different methodology, is striking. NHL is often associated with autoimmune diseases. Lymphoma is also associated with certain infections, most commonly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The Epstein-Barr virus was originally discovered in a patient with Burkitt's lymphoma, a type of B-cell NHL. EBV preferentially infects and establishes latency in B cells.
Additionally, Dr. Dan Peterson, who treated patients suffering from an outbreak of CFS in Incline Village, NV has seen high rates of mantle cell lymphoma in his patients (1, 2, 3). Mantle cell lymphoma is a type of B-cell NHL. His observations prompted the research published by Levine et. al. cited above.