Washington Blade - September 28, 2001

PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona group is beginning experiments this month to determine whether a new vaccine could protect HIV-infected people from developing full-blown AIDS. "It has a lot of promise, but we don't know if it's going to work," said Dr. Louis Kirby, president and founder of Pivotal Research Centers in Peoria and Mesa. Pivotal is among 10 centers around the country studying the effectiveness of a vaccine developed by Merck Research Laboratories. Merck has conducted four small trials on the vaccine, but this will be the largest. The study calls for 167 participants, 16 of whom will come from the Phoenix metropolitan area. Participants agree to receive four injections and make 17 visits to the Peoria center throughout the 78-week study.

None of the volunteers can be infected with HIV, because researchers are trying to determine whether the vaccine triggers an immune response. Researchers then will study participants' blood to see if they've developed antibodies to the HIV. The experimental vaccine is engineered so it cannot give HIV to a healthy person.

Red meat associated with ovarian cancer

MILAN, Italy -- Consumption of vegetables and fish appears to protect against ovarian cancer, while frequent consumption of red meat and starchy foods, including soup, is associated with an increased risk, according to a report in the Sept. 15 issue of the International Journal of Cancer, Reuters reported. Dr. Cristina Bosetti, of Instituto di Richerche Farmacologiche, Milan, Italy, and colleagues examined the link between dietary habits and ovarian cancer by surveying 1,031 women with ovarian cancer and 2,411 women without the disease.

The researchers investigated the women's diets using a validated food frequency questionnaire that included 78 foods and recipes. They observed a significant trend of increasing risk of ovarian cancer associated with frequent consumption of bread, soups, red meat, and sugar. The team also observed an inverse relationship between ovarian cancer and consumption of fish, cheese, raw vegetables, and cooked vegetables.

Milk consumption linked to breast cancer

OSLO, Norway -- Women who have increased their milk consumption since childhood are at risk for premenopausal breast cancer, according to a report in the Sept. 15 issue of the International Journal of Cancer, Reuters reported. Dr. Anette Hjartaker of the University of Oslo in Norway and colleagues assessed the relationship between childhood and adult consumption of milk and breast cancer incidence. The researchers studied 48,844 premenopausal Norwegian women and noted that 317 incident cases of breast cancer were diagnosed during a mean follow-up of 6.2 years. The investigators found that childhood milk consumption was inversely associated with subsequent breast cancer among women between the ages of 19 and 34 years old, but not among women between 40 and 49 years old.

After adjusting for age, reproductive and hormonal factors, body mass index, education, physical activity, and alcohol consumption, they observed a negative association between adult milk consumption and breast cancer incidence. When the investigators combined childhood and adult milk consumption, they observed a negative trend in breast cancer incidence rate ratios with increasing consumption of milk.

Abacavir-based regimen helpful for HIV

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A study published in the Aug. 17 issue of AIDS found that the replacement of a protease inhibitor (PI) by the nucleoside reverse transcripase inhibitor abacavir in a triple antiretroviral regimen appears to be well-tolerated and effective in HIV-infected patients, Reuters reported. Dr. Nathan Clumeck, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint-Pierre, Brussels, Belgium, and colleagues noted that "not all individuals with HIV infection are able to tolerate long-term therapy with PI-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)." The researchers studied 211 patients who had been receiving PI-containing triple therapy for six months. The subjects were randomized to continue with the same regimen treatment or to have the PI replaced by abacavir.

They found that after 48 weeks that those taking abacavir showed a significantly longer time to treatment failure than those who were in the PI group.

HAART linked with lipodystrophy

PARIS -- The longer HIV-infected patients are on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the more likely they are to develop lipodystrophic syndromes, according to researchers in France. The development of these disorders is linked with both duration of HAART exposure and the number of nucleosides used before beginning HAART, Dr. Jean-Paul Viard, of H|pital Necker in Paris, and colleagues reported in the Aug. 15 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Viard and his team examined the link between HAART and the development of lipodystrophic syndromes in 175 HIV-infected patients. Patients with lipoatrophy had a longer duration of HAART exposure; were exposed to a larger number of nucleoside analogs before initiating HAART; and had a longer duration of HIV, according to the report.

-- Staff and wire reports

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