Washington Balde - October 5, 2001

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Suppression of the immune system in patients with HIV increases the risk of some types of cancer that are not specifically related to AIDS, according to a report published in the Sept. 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, Reuters reported. Kaposi's sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and invasive cervical cancer have been designated as AIDS-related cancers, the authors write, but only inconsistently have other malignancies been reported to be associated with HIV infection. Brian Gallagher and colleagues from the New York State Department of Health in Albany compared the cancer experience of 122,993 people with AIDS with that of the general population of New York State.

The authors reported that there were 12,698 cancers among the patients with AIDS, most of them occurring in men. Rates of several non-AIDS-related cancers were higher in AIDS patients, including Hodgkin's disease; cancer of the rectum, anus, and lower large intestine; cancer of the lungs and airways; and cancers of the brain and central nervous system. "We have confirmed that cancer occurs in excess for AIDS-related cancers and for certain non-AIDS-related cancers," the authors wrote.

urk Jubelt of the State University of New York Upstate Medical niversity said antiviral HIV drugs appeared to have helped cure form of Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS.

Nerve disease responds positively to HIV treatments

NEW YORK/PARIS -- Two new studies published in Neurology showed that antiviral drugs used in HIV treatments could cause a form of Lou Gehrig's disease to improve or disappear with treatment, according to USA Today. Following anti-HIV treatment, two French patients and a 32-year-old woman from New York recovered completely from the nerve disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which was thought to be fatal in all cases. "Treat their HIV infection, and the ALS goes away," Burk Jubelt of the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse wrote in an accompanying editorial. French researchers at the Adolphe de Rothschild Foundation in Paris identified six cases of apparent ALS among 17,000 infected with HIV over a 13-year period.

Doctors at Beth Israel Hospital in New York reported on a seventh case. All but one of the patients benefited from anti-HIV therapy; the remaining patient's condition stabilized, French researchers say.

Breast cancer vaccine trials to begin in London

LONDON -- A new vaccine against breast cancer is to begin clinical trials in Britain next month, raising hopes that an effective alternative to chemotherapy and radiation treatment may soon be available, according to the Times of London. The drug, which will be tested at Hammersmith Hospital in London, works by stimulating the body's natural defense mechanisms against tumors without the debilitating side effects of standard treatments for the disease. The vaccine, known as AutoVac, induces the human immune system to destroy cancerous breast tissue, rather than knocking it out with poison or radiation. Researchers hope that it will be possible to use it as an alternative. Charles Coombes, professor of cancer medicine at Hammersmith Hospital, who is leading the study, said successful trials would pave the way for different treatments for the disease.

"Chemotherapy is very toxic, and I have seen as a doctor what it can do to patients, and I am of course very keen to find a viable alternative," he told the Times. If the trials go well, Coombes predicted that a vaccine could be on the market within three years. Other trials are being conducted at three clinics in Denmark.

Study: Breast cancer deaths not tied to HRT

LONDON -- Women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are at increased risk of developing breast cancer, but they are not more likely to die from the disease, researchers reported at the Seventh Nottingham International Breast Cancer Conference held in London two weeks ago, Reuters reported. Dr. R. Prasad and colleagues from University Hospital South Manchester said that prior HRT use does not adversely affect the survival rates of women. They studied 589 patients with cancers detected between 1991 and 1997. Of those women, 172 had used HRT while 417 had never used HRT. The researchers found the likelihood that tumors had spread to lymph nodes and the size of tumors did not differ between HRT users and non-users. Prasad followed up the study and found that 91-percent of women who had used HRT were still alive after 10 years compared with 88-percent of those who had never taken HRT. "Prior HRT use does not adversely affect survival after diagnosis of breast cancer," Prasad told the conference.

Exercise may cut older women's cancer risk

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands -- Older women who exercise may be less likely than their inactive peers to develop breast cancer, according to Dutch researchers, Reuters reported. The study, published in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Cancer, showed that women who biked or walked for more than an hour each day had a 19 percent reduction in their chances of developing breast cancer, Dr. Miranda J.M. Dirx of Maastricht University in the Netherlands reported. The investigators evaluated the exercise habits of more than 62,000 women aged 55 to 69 years old over a seven-year period. During that time, about 1,200 women developed breast cancer. "The results of the current study support the hypothesis that physical activity protects against breast cancer in postmenopausal women," Dirx and colleagues wrote.

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