Study: HIV significantly boosts cancer risks

Researchers in Scotland report in the British Journal of Cancer that before the advent of antiretroviral medications, HIV-positive people were at a higher risk of developing cancer, even cancers not typically associated with HIV disease. The scientists report that HIV-positive people had 11 times the risk for all cancers than the general population and were more than 100 times more likely to develop certain cancers. The risk varied among HIV-positive study subjects--hemophiliacs and heterosexuals were five times more likely to develop cancer, while gay men were 21 times more likely. Among all HIV-positive study subjects, risk of skin cancer tripled, risk of lung cancer quadrupled, and risk of liver cancer increased by 22 times. The risk of developing AIDS-defining cancers, like Kaposi's sarcoma or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, increased dramatically among the HIV-positive study subjects. The risk of developing KS increased by more than 2,000 times, while risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma climbed by about 100 times. "We expected a number of cancers already linked to HIV would be more common in Scottish patients, but the rises in lung, liver, and skin cancer were more surprising," lead author Gwen Allardice of the University of Strathclyde told AIDS Weekly. "It could be that HIV patients are smoking more or have greater exposure to other viruses such as hepatitis B and C, or it might be because a healthy immune system plays a stronger role than we thought in keeping these cancers at bay."