While life can hardly be said to be easy for patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), new research out of the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health indicates that MS patients do appear to have a lower risk of developing cancer than the general population.
The research appears in the journal Brain.
According to the study's lead author, Elaine Kingwell, a postdoctoral fellow in the UBC Faculty of Medicine and Brain Research Centre at UBC and VCH Research Institute, the study seemed relevant considering the crucial role played by the immune system in both MS and cancer, so they "wanted to know whether the risk of cancer is different for people with MS.
"Not only did MS patients have a lower overall cancer risk, the risk for colorectal cancer in particular was significantly lower."
Not all was good news for MS patients, as researchers did determine that those patients, while having an overall lower risk of cancer, did appear to have a higher risk for a couple of specific cancers than the general population.
Specifically, they noted that patients diagnosed with relapsing-onset MS have a much higher risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer than the general population.
Despite the work, researchers can't say what the mechanism might be that offers this lower general risk.
Source: Medpage Today
The information provided on CancerTreatment.net is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. This information is solely for informational purposes and does not constitute the practice of medicine. We encourage all visitors to see a licensed physician or nutritionist if they have any concerns regarding health issues related to diet, personal image and any other topics discussed on this site. Neither the owners or employees of CancerTreatment.net nor the author(s) of site content take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading this site. Always speak with your primary health care provider before engaging in any form of self treatment. Please see our Legal Statement for further information.
