The clinical perspective on malignancies in renal transplanted patients

Post-transplant malignancies cause significant morbidity and mortality. In this thesis we investigated malignancies in renal transplanted patients from a clinical viewpoint. The use of regional tumour registries considerably improved identification of pre- and post-transplant malignancies, which are generally underreported in transplant registries. Despite previously adequate cancer treatments with favourable prognosis, patients with pre-transplant malignancies showed higher incidence of post-transplant cancer and reduced survival compared to a 1:3 ratio matched control group of patients without a previous cancer from the Collaborative Transplant Study in Europe. A careful oncological surveillance pre-transplant and post-transplant is recommended. A multidisciplinary team evaluated the immunosuppressive and oncological treatment in a clinical prospective observational study of 120 renal transplanted patients with post-transplant malignancies. In two-thirds of the patients immunosuppression was possible to change to mTOR inhibitors with anti-tumour effects. Oncological treatment was adjusted in 50% of patients with solid or haematological tumours. MDT assessments are essential for optimizing treatment of post-transplant malignancies. Number of previous cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) posed the most significant risk variable in predicting subsequent SCCs during a two-years study of 73 transplanted patients with at least one SCC. Incidence of transplant-derived tumours is 5 times higher than anticipated. Three of eleven cancers in urinary tract and two of four cancers in the transplants were transplant-derived. Five of eleven cancers of the urinary tract were BK-virus positive. Allograft immune response against these tumours offer new options for cancer treatment such as immunomodulatory or anti-viral treatment in combination with modified immunosuppression.