Lung cancer and interstitial lung diseases: the lack of prognostic impact of lung cancer in IPF

Lung Cancer (LC) is the first cause of death worldwide. Recently increased interest in interstitial lung diseases (ILD) has highlighted an association with lung cancer, offering interesting insights into the pathogenesis of the latter. Describe the association between lung cancer and ILD and evaluate the impact of LC on survival in these populations. We collected clinical, radiological, histologic data of 53 cases of advanced pulmonary fibrosis with lung cancer: 17 with UIP pattern (usual interstitial pneumonia, UIP/IPF-LC) and 36 with non-UIP pattern (ILD-LC). Adenocarcinoma was the most frequent histological subtype of lung cancer in all three groups and in UIP/IPF-LC developed in the lung periphery and in an advanced fibrosis context. Patients with DLCO% < 38% showed survival < 10 months, irrespective of group and development of carcinoma in UIP/IPF does not necessarily affect survival, unlike in SR-ILD. Our results confirm that the oncogenic mechanism is closely linked to fibrotic and inflammatory processes and that the development of carcinoma affects survival in SR-ILD but not in IPF.