June 2005 Cover
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Highly active antiretroviral therapy may not only suppress HIV and help prevent opportunistic infections such as pneumonia: the drugs may also protect patients from some
infection-related cancers, researchers have reported.
Scientists reviewed the records of more than 7,300 Swiss HIV patients and found that those taking HAART had a lower risk of Kaposi's sarcoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
than patients not taking HAART.
However, compared with the general population, HIV-infected patients had a 20-fold risk of having KS and had a higher risk of anal cancer; Hodgkin's lymphoma; cervical cancer;
liver cancer; cancer of the lip, mouth, and pharynx; and non-melanoma skin cancer, researchers reported. In persons infected with HIV, HAART use may prevent most excess risk of KS and
non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but not that of Hodgkin lymphoma and other non-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-defining cancers. No cancers of the lip, mouth, pharynx, or lung were
observed in nonsmokers.
Editor's Note: from Reuters
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