Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease: risk factor for nonmelanoma skin cancer following kidney transplantation

Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSC) are the most common malignant tumors following solid organ transplantation. Risk factors for NMSC mainly include immunosuppression, age, sun exposure and patient phototype. Recent findings have suggested that autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) may increase the risk of developing NMSC. We performed a monocenter retrospective study including all kidney recipients between 1985 and 2006 (n = 1019). We studied the incidence of NMSC, solid cancers and post‐transplantation lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD), and analyzed the following parameters: age, gender, phototype, time on dialysis, graft rank, immunosuppressive regimen, history of cancer and kidney disease (ADPKD versus others). Median follow‐up was 5.5 years (range: 0.02–20.6; 79 838 patient‐years). The cumulated incidence of NMSC 10 years after transplantation was 12.7% (9.3% for solid cancers and 3.5% for PTLD). Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and age were risk factors for NMSC (HR 2.63; P < 0.0001 and HR 2.21; P < 0.001, respectively) using univariate analysis. The association between ADPKD and NMSC remained significant after adjustments for age, gender and phototype using multivariate analysis (HR 1.71; P = 0.0145) and for immunosuppressive regimens (P < 0.0001). Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease was not a risk factor for the occurrence of solid cancers after transplantation (HR 0.96; P = 0.89). Our findings suggest that ADPKD is an independent risk factor for developing NMSC after kidney transplantation.