Risk of Cancer in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Undergoing TNF-α Antagonists Therapy: a Meta-Analysis

Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is a pleiotropic cytokine. Since it reveals both proand anti-cancer properties (Balkwill et al., 2009), risk of malignancies in patients undergoing TNF-α antagonists therapy is always controversial. As our previous researches showed, breast cancer over-expressed TNF-α which played a vital role in the cancer’s occurrence and development, and we also found transmembrane TNF-α monoclonal antibody (tmTNF-α mAb), as a TNF-α antagonist, effectively suppressed breast cancer growth (Yu et al., 2013). TNF-α antagonists seem offer therapeutic potential in solid