Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, prolonged cimetidine administration and nasopharyngeal carcinoma:--a coincidence?
A patient with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome who developed an undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after 3 years of daily treatment with a least 1.0 g cimetidine is described. The question is raised whether large doses of cimetidine, administered for long periods to patients perhaps already immunologically compromised, may change T-suppressor cell functions so as to enable proliferation of oncogenic viruses (e.g. EB virus) and the appearance of tumor. We feel that when the population at risk is small, even a solitary case should alert all concerned.
D002927:Cimetidine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced*; D015043:Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
D002927:Cimetidine