OnCo
termsTerm

Secondary malignancy (therapy-related cancer)

aka secondary malignancies, second malignancy, second malignancies, second cancer, second cancers, second primary, second primary cancer, second primary cancers, second primary malignancy, therapy-related, treatment-related cancer, treatment-induced cancer, therapy-related AML, therapy-related MDS, therapy-related myeloid neoplasm, t-MN, t-AML, radiation-induced, radiation-induced cancer, radiation-induced sarcoma, secondary leukaemia, secondary leukemia, secondary AML, T-cell lymphoma after CAR-T, T-cell malignancies

A new, different cancer caused by the treatment of the first one: leukaemia after alkylating chemotherapy or PARP inhibitors, solid tumours in irradiated tissue decades later, and rarely T-cell lymphoma after CAR-T. Rare per patient, but it matters most for those cured young.

Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (MDS/AML) follow alkylators (5-7 years, often with TP53 mutations and complex karyotype), topoisomerase II inhibitors (2-3 years, MLL rearrangements), PARP inhibitors (about 1-2% in maintenance trials), lenalidomide maintenance and radiotherapy, and carry a poor prognosis; they often arise from pre-existing clonal haematopoiesis. Radiation-induced solid cancers (breast cancer after Hodgkin mantle radiotherapy, sarcomas, thyroid cancer after childhood radiation) appear 10-30 years later and drive the search for less radiation in curable young patients. Secondary T-cell malignancies after CAR-T (FDA boxed warning, 2024) are rare and mostly unrelated to insertional mutagenesis. Second primary cancers also reflect shared risk factors (tobacco in head and neck and lung cancer) and genetic syndromes.

Category
Side effects

Connected

7top