People with polycythemia vera or myelofibrosis taking ruxolitinib should be regularly monitored for skin cancer.

A 10-year retrospective cohort study was carried out to systematically explore the risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) following ruxolitinib exposure in polycythemia or myelofibrosis patients.

A ten-year retrospective cohort of polycythemia or myelofibrosis people were identified and matched on age, race, gender, disease diagnosis, Charlson comorbidity index, and follow-up time. The hazard ratio (HR) for NMSC (comprised of squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma) after ruxolitinib exposure, adjusted for covariates was the major endpoint.

The study incorporated 564 participants (188 participants exposed to ruxolitinib for at least four weeks while 376 participants were unexposed). Ruxolitinib-exposed polycythemia or myelofibrosis people had an adjusted NMSC HR of 2.69. Particularly, ruxolitinib use was more strongly linked with squamous cell carcinoma, HR=3.24. The non-Janus kinase-2 gene [JAK2] mutated people exhibited an even greater risk of squamous cell carcinoma, HR=7.40.

The real-world results demonstrated that the risk of squamous cell carcinoma is elevated in polycythemia or myelofibrosis people taking ruxolitinib and supports consideration of skin cancer monitoring.