Cancer risk soars in HIV-infected people -US study
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Cancer risk soars in HIV-infected people -US study*
20 May 2008 22:19:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - People with HIV have a much higher risk
for many cancers, including anal cancer, but a lower risk for prostate
cancer, researchers said on Tuesday.
Some types of cancers like Kaposi's sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma
have long been associated with people infected by the AIDS virus.
The study focused on trends from 1992 to 2003, finding that these two
types of cancer became relatively less common among HIV-infected people
in the United States. But other cancers are on the rise among these
patients, who are living longer thanks to anti-HIV drugs.
Anal cancer by 2003 had become 59 times more common among HIV-infected
people than the general population, according to the study in the Annals
of Internal Medicine.
Hodgkin's disease was 18 times more common in this population, the study
also found. In addition, liver cancer was seven times more common, lung
cancer 3.6 times more common, the skin cancer melanoma and throat cancer
both three times more common, and colorectal cancer 2.4 times more common.
The study involved 54,780 men and women infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.
It found HIV-infected people had a small reduced risk for prostate
cancer. The researchers said that may be because men with HIV infections
are more likely to have lower testosterone levels, which could be
protective against prostate cancer.
"The study was done because we all know that now people with HIV are
living longer, and HIV is looking more like a chronic disease. So we
wanted to look at one of the other very large chronic killers in
America, cancer," Dr. Pragna Patel of the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, who led the study, told Reuters.
SCREENING IMPORTANT
Patel said doctors who care for HIV-infected people should be aware of
this increased risk for a range of cancer types, and consider screening.
She called the study the largest analysis of cancer trends among
HIV-infected people in the United States ever done.
The virus devastates the body's immune system, raising susceptibility to
illnesses and infections. Many early AIDS patients developed Kaposi's
sarcoma, a cancer previously associated with older people or people
receiving immunosuppressant medications following an organ transplant.
But the advent of combination drug therapy in the 1990s called highly
active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, greatly extended the lives of
many HIV-infected people, particularly in developed countries.
"Most significant was the finding of anal cancer being so elevated even
in the HAART era," Patel said.
She said multiple factors may be involved, but the increased risk may be
linked to the fact that anal sex by homosexual men can spread the human
papillomavirus, or HPV, which is known to cause anal cancer.
"Of course, anal sex and how many times you have anal sex and how many
sex partners you have -- that all matters with regard to HPV infection,"
Patel said.
Human papillomaviruses are common viruses that can cause warts among
other things. About 30 types increase the risk for cancers, including
cervical cancer. These are passed through sexual contact with an
infected partner. (Editing by Maggie Fox)