Trial Information

Solid organ transplantation provides life-saving treatment for end-stage organ disease but
is associated with substantially elevated cancer risk, largely due to the need to maintain
long-term immunosuppression. Despite previous research, important research questions remain
concerning the role of immunosuppression and other factors in causing cancer in the setting.
The investigators propose linking a database of U.S. transplant recipients (458,834
transplants, 1987-June 2010), donors, and wait list candidates, and to multiple U.S. cancer
registries. This linkage will allow identification of incident cancers in transplant
recipients. Using these data, investigators will conduct a detailed evaluation of the
spectrum of cancer risk in transplant recipients. Additionally, the investigators will
examine cancer risk in transplant recipients in relation to whether donors themselves had
cancer, to study possible donor-to-recipient transmission of cancer. The investigators will
also study whether proposed cancer risk factors (e.g., underlying medical condition,
infection with oncogenic viruses, immunosuppressive medications), documented in transplant
files, are associated with increased risk of particular types of cancer.