Breast cancer in postmenopausal women after non-melanomatous skin cancer: the Women's Health Initiative observational study

Triple Primary Malignancies: Tumor Associations, Survival, and Clinicopathological Analysis: A 25-Year Single-Institution Experience

The detection of multiple primary malignancies is on the rise despite their rare occurrence rate. This research aims to determine the prevalence, tumor association patterns, overall survival, and the correlation between survival time and independent factors in patients with triple primary malignancies. This single-center retrospective study included 117 patients with triple primary malignancies admitted to a tertiary cancer center between 1996 and 2021. The observed prevalence was 0.082%. The majority of patients (73%) were over the age of fifty at the first tumor diagnosis, and regardless of gender, the lowest median age occurred in the metachronous group. The most common tumor associations were found between genital-skin-breast, skin-skin-skin, digestive-genital-breast, and genital-breast-lung cancer. The male gender and being over the age of fifty at the first tumor diagnosis are associated with a higher risk of mortality. Compared with the metachronous group, patients with three synchronous tumors demonstrate a risk of mortality 6.5 times higher, whereas patients with one metachronous and two synchronous tumors demonstrate a risk of mortality three times higher. The likelihood of subsequent malignancies should always be considered throughout cancer patients' short- and long-term surveillance to ensure prompt tumor diagnosis and treatment.

Risk of second primary cancer associated with pre-diagnostic smoking, alcohol, and obesity in women with keratinocyte carcinoma

Keratinocyte carcinoma (KC), which includes basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous-cell cancer (SCC), has been associated with an increased risk of second primary cancers (SPCs), although the reason for this increase is unknown. We assessed the effects of smoking, alcohol, and obesity prior to the diagnosis of KC on the development of SPCs, as these are well-established risk factors for multiple cancers and may also contribute to the increased risk of SPCs among those with KC. A total of 15,628 women with self-reported KC were identified in the Nurses' Health Study. Incident SPCs were assessed throughout the follow-up until June 2012. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) of SPC associated with pre-diagnostic smoking, alcohol and body mass index (BMI). We also compared these risk estimates to those for first cancers in all cohort participants. During 193,695 person-years of follow-up, we recorded 2839 SPC cases. Compared with never smokers, current smokers had a significantly elevated risk for SPC overall and specifically for lung, colorectal, and bladder cancers. We also found a positive association between higher BMI and risk for SPC overall as well as for endometrial and bladder SPCs. Women with KC who consumed alcohol ≥30g/day had a marginally higher risk of SPC compared to non-drinkers. The associations between incident SPC risk among KC cases and smoking, alcohol, and obesity appeared similar to the associations between these risk factors and the incident first primary cancers in the whole cohort. Only in the heavy smoking (≥25 cigarettes/day) category was the HR for SPC after KC (2.34; 95% CI 1.98-2.76) slightly higher than that for the first cancer in the overall cohort (HR 1.86; 95% CI 1.75-1.98, P_{heterogeneity}=0.01). In conclusion, pre-diagnostic smoking, alcohol and obesity prior to KC diagnosis were associated with risk of SPCs.

Keratinocyte Carcinoma as a Marker of a High Cancer-Risk Phenotype

Keratinocyte carcinoma (KC) (also referred to as nonmelanoma skin cancer) is by far the most common form of human cancer. A personal history of KC is well established to be associated with increased risk of recurrent KC and malignant melanoma, a less common yet more fatal form of skin cancer. More surprising is that a substantial body of epidemiologic evidence now indicates that a personal history of KC is significantly associated with an overall elevated risk of noncutaneous malignancies. This association is not limited to one or a few types of cancer but applies across many different types of malignancy. This association has been consistently observed in prospective studies across genders for both major histologic types of KC, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The risk of other cancers has been even stronger in those with younger compared with older age of onset of KC. A robust body of evidence lends support to the notion that KC may be a marker of a high cancer-risk phenotype. The underlying mechanisms for this association remain to be elucidated, but the cross-cutting nature of this association across numerous malignancies suggests that research to uncover these mechanisms is a promising line of inquiry that could potentially yield valuable insight into human carcinogenesis.