Letter to the Editor. Diagnosis of immune encephalitis requires a workup for specific antibodies and the exclusion of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

OBJECTIVE

Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs), including cyclosporine and tacrolimus, are associated with an increased cancer risk. However, whether mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors (mTORis), including sirolimus and everolimus, decrease the cancer risk in patients receiving CNIs remains uncertain. We aimed to determine whether mTORis are associated with a decreased cancer risk in patients receiving CNIs using data mining of a spontaneous adverse reaction database.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Disproportionality analysis was conducted using the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System database (2004 - 2019) with reporting odds ratio and information component being used to indicate a signal.

RESULTS

Data subset analyses indicated that sirolimus and everolimus were not associated with a decreased cancer risk in patients receiving cyclosporine or tacrolimus but were associated with an increased risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and Kaposi's sarcoma.

CONCLUSION

mTORis are not associated with a decreased cancer risk but are associated with a further increase in the risk of NMSC and Kaposi's sarcoma in patients receiving CNIs. Further studies are necessary to clarify the mechanism underlying the association between mTORis and NMSC or Kaposi's sarcoma.