Aids drug cocktail could help prevent cervical cancer

Drug cocktails used to control the Aids virus may also help to prevent cervical cancer, say US researchers.

It is not clear whether the drugs have a direct effect on precancerous lesions or if they allow the immune system to naturally battle them, the researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

But it marks one more benefit of the drug cocktails called highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, which do not cure HIV infection but can help control it.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can allow the spread of a range of infections as it destroys the body's immune cells. Among its effects is an increased risk of abnormalities in the cervix called squamous intraepithelial lesions.

Doctors believe these lesions, which can progress to cancer, are caused by human wart virus or human papillomavirus (HPV). HIV infection also raises the risk of HPV infection and both can be sexually transmitted.

Usually the lesions clear. But they are more likely to progress to cancer in women infected with HIV.

Linda Ahdieh-Grant of Johns Hopkins University and colleagues analysed data from 2000 women taking part in a study of HAART.

Before women started HAART, the lesions regressed in none. After women started HAART, the regression rate was 12.5 per cent.

"These findings underscore the importance of ensuring that women who are immunosuppressed have full access to antiretroviral therapy," Ahdieh-Grant and her colleagues wrote.

- REUTERS