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Outrageous_County_29 t1_j7mkcd8 wrote

People with autoimmune diseases are generally more susceptible to viral infections, due to their weakened immune system. However, they are not necessarily more likely to get cancer, as this is usually not caused by viruses.

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flamebirde t1_j7rbrcd wrote

Well… not exactly. Most viruses don’t cause cancer but there are a good number of viruses that do. HTLV-1 and 2 (human T lymphoyropic virus) is strongly associated with adult T cell lymphoma, for example. And probably the most classic example of autoimmune disease -> viral infection -> cancer is Kaposi sarcoma. Patients with AIDS will get infected with HHV-8 (a type of herpes virus) and will then develop Kaposi’s sarcoma as a direct result.

They’re actually called oncoviruses, and are pretty well studied. Fascinating subject to research.

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