title: Autoimmune Phenomena in Patients with Solid Tumors.
abstract: Autoimmune disorders have been documented in solid tumors and malignant hematological disorders. They are very common and well studied in lymphomas which are associated with immune imbalance. They are less common in solid tumors and are categorized as paraneoplastic syndromes with unclear pathogenesis.
  
  
  
  The aim of the present study was to find the frequency of autoimmune phenomena in solid tumors of various origin, location and status of the tumor.
  
  
  
  Between 2000 and 2014 we studied 1083 patients with solid tumors that were diagnosed and treated in St George University Hospital, Plovdiv.
  
  
  
  We found higher incidence of these phenomena in prostate and ovarian carcinomas (9.01% and 5.6%, respectively) than in other solid tumors. Their distribution by type of autoimmune disease showed that vasculitis, polyneuritis and autoimmune hemolytic anemia have the highest frequency of all. Immune thrombocytopenia, seronegative arthritis, psoriasis, polymyositis are less commonly documented. The autoimmune paraneoplastic phenomena manifest themselves metachronously, less commonly synchronously, with the tumor. In most cases, their clinical manifestation is a progressive disease or metastatic malignant disorder which respond favourably to therapy.
  
  
  
  Paraneoplastic autoimmune phenomena are found very commonly in prostate and ovarian carcinomas. They occur in the course of the evolvement of neoplasm and can regress with medicamentous or surgical treatment of the malignoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Ivanka S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Nenova
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Mariana Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Valcheva
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Elina A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Beleva
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Dora Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Tumbeva
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Marianna P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Yaneva
authors.affiliation: Department of Accounting, Finance and Statistics, Agricultural University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Emilia L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Rancheva
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Zhanet G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Grudeva-Popova
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010257:Paraneoplastic Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies