Types of cancer vary in HIV patients

DALLAS, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say a shift in types of cancers among human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients has occurred since anti-retrovirals were introduced.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center said non-AIDS-defining malignancies, such as anal and lung cancer, have become more prevalent among HIV-infected patients than non-HIV patients since the introduction of anti-retroviral therapies during the mid-1990s.

The researchers found that when statistics were adjusted for gender, race-ethnicity and age, HIV-infected patients were 60 percent more likely to have anal, lung, Hodgkin's, melanoma or liver cancer than patients without HIV.

"It's a genuine increase in the incidence of these cancers," said Dr. Roger Bedimo, an assistant professor of internal medicine and lead author of the study. "The increase is more visible because these patients are living longer, but our findings suggest that the increased number of non-AIDS-defining malignancies is not simply the result of their longer lives."

Bedimo said it's unclear exactly why non-AIDS-defining malignancies are more common in HIV patients than the general population.

The study that included scientists from the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, the Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston and the Yale University School of Medicine appears in the October edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.