Among the diseases that can coincide with MS, lymphoma features prominently. The implications of this coincidence are worth exploring.
It is interesting that lymphoma has been noted to regularly coincide with MS. Lymphoma and MS are both conditions that can affect the nervous system and the functioning of the immune system. Hence, looking into this coincidence can be greatly enlightening.
We could start by asking several questions about the concurrence of MS and lymphoma: What does this coincidence mean? Is lymphoma caused by MS? Does lymphoma cause MS? Is it simply a coincidence with no causal relationship? Could the two conditions be triggered by the same factors? Various scientists have tried to answer these questions, as is evidenced by the amount of literature that comes up in an ordinary web engine search for “MS lymphoma.” Their conclusions reveal that there may be more than one explanation for the concurrence.
Exploring the MS-Lymphoma Coincidence
MS is generally described as an autoimmune disease that involves progressive damage to the patient’s nervous tissue. It involves the demyelination of nerve cells as well as the inflammation of the affected tissue. The parts of the nervous system affected can include the patient’s brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. When this nervous tissue is damaged by MS lesions, the functioning of the patient’s associated organs and organ systems is infected. As a result of MS, patients can have a wide variety of symptoms, including loss of vision, an unusual gait, Lhermitte’s sign, progressive disability, etc.
Lymphoma is a form of cancer that affects special cells called lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are immune system cells- white blood cells, to be specific. They include T cells, B cells and natural killer cells. There are different forms of lymphoma. They include Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The distinctions between them are too detailed to go into here. For the purposes of this article, the most relevant thing that can be said about them is that they have both been noted to coincide with MS.
A 2004 study showed that both MS and Hodgkin’s lymphoma tended to coincide in families and to be transmitted from generation to generation. The MS-Lymphoma coincidence was characteristic to certain affluent families and tended to become apparent in early adulthood. As a result of the study, it was suggested that the two diseases might be caused by the same factors.
In another instance, a patient diagnosed with MS and subsequently put on treatment developed a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma- primary central nervous system lymphoma. The lymphoma could have developed in different ways. One explanation was highly favored, though: It was suggested that the drugs taken to treat the patient’s MS (steroids, immunosuppressants and beta-interferon) may have compromised the patient’s immunity, ultimately resulting in primary CNS lymphoma.
