Study: Risk of Cancer Higher in HIV-Infected Individuals
According to a recently published study, people infected with HIV have a higher risk of developing cancer compared to HIV-uninfected individuals. This includes cancers that had previously not been associated with HIV.
The increased risk is not accounted for by cancers that are common to the HIV infected. In fact, the study found that although the risk of Kaposi's sarcoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was still higher for people with HIV infection compared to the general population, the actual rates of those malignancies dropped significantly among the HIV infected from 1992 to 2003.
However, the rates of other cancers, especially anal and vaginal cancers, are considerably higher in the HIV-infected population. The exception was prostate cancer, which had increased rates of incidence but was still lower overall in the HIV-infected community than in the general population.
More information is available:
Treatment Regimen Discontinued in Clinical Trial
In a current international, NIAID-sponsored clinical trial (ACTG 5175), researchers have determined that a regimen of emtricitabine, atazanavir, and didanosine was found to be inferior to a standard antiretroviral drug regimen in adults; therefore, the regimen will be discontinued in the study.
The Phase IV study of 1,571 HIV-infected participants compared the efficacy of antiretroviral regimens taken once daily to standard regimens using a combination medication taken twice daily. All participants receiving the regimen in question have been notified of this change and are advised to consult with their physicians regarding switching to alternative regimens and proceeding with antiretroviral therapy.
More information is available:
NIAID: Press release
ClinicalTrials.gov: ACTG 5175 clinical trial
AIDSinfo: Atazanavir drug fact sheet
AIDSinfo: Emtricitabine drug fact sheet
AIDSinfo: Didanosine drug fact sheet
