I was dx in late September 2016 and started on Tasigna 300mg twice a day. I had three confirmed squamous cell skin cancers (SCC) in the following 3 months plus an additional 20 some suspicious spots frozen by my dermatologist. I have never previously had skin cancer, only a few precancerous spots removed. She thinks this is being caused by the Tasigna and on December 14th she recommended I start Soriatane, but I declined after reviewing the side effects profile and decided to seek a second opinion. My oncologist does not know what s causing this and says there is no known link between Tasigna and any other form of cancer; my PCP thinks it is my compromised immune system from the CML and he suggested I defer on taking the Soriatane.
Starting in mid-December, I had a significant decline in the number of suspicious spots, bumps etc, so I was beginning to think that the situation was improving. On January 10, I saw a dermatologist at Mayo. I showed her the only 3 suspicious spots, all on my left lower leg, that had developed since December 14. She suspected more cancer and biopsied all 3 sites. All 3 biopsies came back positive for SCC.
She was ambivalent about Soriatane, but did offer an alternative with fewer side effects - Nicotinamide (also Niacinamide) 500mg twice a day, which is a Vitamin B3 derivative. I started that last night. An Australian study in 2015 showed statistically significant decline (23%) in non-melanoma skin cancers in group using Niacinamide versus placebo.
From January 10 until early February, There were no new spots. Then in the first week of February, 3 new spots appeared. I went to my Mayo dermatologist on February and 2 of the spots were precancerous and were frozen. The third was biopsied and came back positive for SCC. So that is now 7 SCC's (all superficial or superficially invasive, so not serious except for the number and frequency). My dermatologist is still not ready to start Soriatane yet and neither am I. The trend line of overall activity is still down.
There is very little on the internet about CML and skin cancer or Tasigna and skin cancer (only one case study of a 73 year old woman with 8 SCC's in first 6 months - she went on Soriatane but there is no update on her current condition). I am a member of the LLS CML support group and there are a few mentions of skin cancer, but non as profilic as mine.
Dealing with the skin issues and CML is pretty tough, but I do not want to stop the Tasigna since I reached MMR in just 83 days!! Has anyone else had anything like this experience on Tasigna or any other TKI?