The infrequent association of systemic lupus erythematosus and solid tumors

The authors describe the clinical course of two patients with long-standing, indolent systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) who developed, respectively, a breast carcinoma and a malignant melanoma 8 and 15 years after the diagnosis of lupus; both patients died with evidence of widespread, rapidly progressive metastatic disease at a time when the SLE was minimally active and did not require immunosuppressive therapy. The association of SLE and solid tumors in the same patient is reviewed. The frequency of this association appears to be low and the most often described tumors are of uterine and bladder origin. The clinical course of the solid malignancy in these patients is not always described in detail. Careful epidemiologic studies on the true incidence of solid tumors in patients with SLE are required to better understand this association.