HIV prevalence in patients with cervical carcinoma

Abstract

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) seropositive prevalence among women with cervical cancer varies in different parts of the world and even within a country. This study aimed to document the prevalence of HIV infection in women with newly diagnosed cervical cancer at a secondary hospital in South Africa. This study is a retrospective review of records of 89 women who were newly diagnosed with cervical cancer between 01 June 2010 and 31 May 2013 at Pelonomi Hospital, Mangaung, South Africa. Data such as age, parity, gravidity, marital status, occupation, HIV status, CD4 count, on anti-retroviral treatment, clinical stage of disease were retrieved from the case files, the Meditech-patient record and Disa laboratory system. Data analysis was done using the SAS statistical package. HIV-seropositive prevalence was 52.4%, with the highest prevalence (91.3%) in the age group 40 years and younger. In HIV-positive women, the mean CD4 cell count was 280 cell/mm 3 and 43% of them were not on anti-retroviral treatment. The majority (86%) of all patients presented with late stage disease (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Stage III and IV) when newly diagnosed with cervical cancer. This study highlights high HIV-seropositive prevalence; severe immunosuppression and late presentation of the disease in women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer. Cervical cancer screening programs need to be fully reinforced into existing HIV health care services to allow for ideal prevention and early detection of the disease. Anti-retroviral treatment needs to be prioritized for HIV-positive women.

Simultaneous targeting of B-cell malignancies and human immunodeficiency virus with bispecific chimeric antigen receptor T cells

“…These results demonstrate the potential of developing CAR T cells that target multiple diseases simultaneously. While this study is focused on HIV and B cell lymphoma, this platform could potentially be extended to other cancers stereotypical of PLWH, such as cervical cancer 9 and Kaposi sarcoma 10 . Alternatively, a similar tandem CAR design could be utilized to mitigate opportunistic infections post CAR T cell therapy, which has been observed in ~80% of patients treated with CAR T cells and include cytomegalovirus (CMV) and fungal infections 11,12 .To combat CMV, we previously showed isolating CMV-specific T cells to make bispecific CAR T cell product that could target a B cell malignancy as well as CMV infection and are currently testing its efficacy clinically 4,13 .…”