Researchers Study Why HIV-Infected Patients Experience High Rates of Cancer
The National Institutes of Health has funded research led by Case Western Reserve University’s School of Dental Medicine focused on why human immunodeficiency (HIV)-infected patients experience higher rates of cancer than the general public.
The National Institutes of Health has funded research led by Case Western Reserve University’s School of Dental Medicine focused on why human immunodeficiency (HIV)-infected patients experience higher rates of cancer than the general public.
The study, “Exosomes Derived From HIV-1-Infected Cells Promote Growth and Progression of Cancer via HIV TAR RNA,” published in Nature Communications, details how T-cells multiply and invade other cells in HIV-infected patients.
The team studied more aggressive cells in head and neck cancers related to 18 HIV-infected patients. Researchers found exosomes played a large part in altering the growth and spread of cancer cells in the subjects studied, according to The Daily.
HIV-infected patients are 500 more times to be diagnosed with Kaposi sarcoma and 12 times more likely to be diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma than the general population. The National Cancer Institute reports that among women, subjects with HIV are three times more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than the general population.
