By Jimmy Downs

Monday Nov 26, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Kidney transplantation or renal transplantation can increase risk of a number of cancers including particularly non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), lung cancer, kidney cancer, and prostate cancer, according to a study in European Journal of Cancer.

P. Piselli at Department of Epidemiology, INMI "L. Spallanzani" in Rome, Italy and colleagues conducted the study and found the overall cancer risk among those who had received kidney transplantation was 70 percent higher, compared to the general population.

The study was based on data from 7,217 kidney transplant recipients who received treatment at 15 Italian kidney transplantation centers between 1997 and 2007 and were followed up until 2009.  During a 39,598 person-year follow-up, 395 de novo cancers were diagnosed including Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD), non-Hodgkin' lymphoma (NHL), lung cancer, kidney cancer, and prostate cancer.

Those who used mTOR inhibitors were found to have 46 % reduced risk for all cancers.

The researchers concluded "Our study findings confirmed, in Italy, the increased risks for cancer following KT (kidney transplantation), and they also suggested a possible protective effect of mTORi in reducing the frequency of post transplant cancers."

Cancer risk after kidney transplantation is well known.  A Japanese study in Cancer Prevention Research shows orally taking an active form of vitamin D (calcitriol and alfacalcidol in the study) reduced the psottransplantation malignancy risk by 75%, compared with those who did not take vitamin D supplements.