Correlation between skin cancer and therapy with anti-IL monoclonal antibodies in patients affected by moderate to severe psoriasis

Moderate to severe psoriasis tends to be treated with biological drugs. In recent years, the most widely used monoclonal antibodies are those targeting IL-17 and IL-23 patterns. Although registration studies of these drugs have shown excellent safety, there are still no prospective studies on the correlation between their use and skin cancer. Therefore, this cross-sectional study takes into account 127 patients referred to the psoriasis outpatient clinic of the UO Dermatology Pisa, looking for the presence of cancer or precancerous lesions in individuals taking monoclonal antibodies against IL-17 or anti IL-23. The characteristics of our population were studied, from comorbidities to concomitant therapies that could have an impact on tumour occurrence. We found cancer occurrence in 12 individuals, with cancer onset averaging 22 months. Finally, we characterised the cancers, studying a possible correlation with the individuals' variables. This study therefore lays the foundations for a possible future multicentre prospective study.