TUESDAY, June 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Certain cancer immunotherapy drugs may increase risk for joint and tissue disease, including arthritis, new research suggests.
"We keep having referrals coming in from our oncologists as more patients are treated with these drugs," said Dr. Clifton Bingham, director of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center in Baltimore.
"In particular, as more patients are treated with combinations of multiple immunotherapies, we expect the rate to go up," he said in a Hopkins news release.
Drugs like ipilimumab and nivolumab are called checkpoint inhibitor drugs. Between 2012 and 2016, 13 patients given these drugs at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center (1.3 percent of the total using them) developed new-onset arthritis, or autoimmune disorders that cause dry eyes and mouth, the researchers said.
