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AIDS-related cancers, part I: Kaposi’s sarcoma and cervical cancer
Department of Oncology, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK
Improving the efficacy and availability of therapies for HIV is arguably the greatest medical problem of the 21st century. HIV-1 and cancer often occur together, and cancer remains a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the 60 million individuals infected with the retrovirus. In particular, there is a marked increase in risk of Kaposi’s sarcoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with HIV-1 infection. Other cancers are also significantly more common in the context of immunosuppression. Data demonstrate that the principles behind the management of AIDS-associated cancers include treatment of both HIV infection and the cancer itself. Therapy for AIDS-defining tumors involves antiretroviral therapy to suppress HIV viremia and to maintain CD4 cell counts, followed by chemotherapy. Cytotoxic treatment is complicated, however, by underlying immunoparesis, and options are often limited. Despite these difficulties, outcomes are improving, and an increased appreciation of the biological mechanisms underlying viral tumorigenesis will hopefully delineate new treatments.
| Commun Oncol 2005;2:507–511 | full text |  144 kb |