HIV drug could prevent cervical cancer
August 2006Researchers in the School of Medicine’s Division of Human Development and Reproduction are developing a topical treatment for the human papilloma virus (HPV), responsible for pre-cancerous and cancerous disease of the cervix and other genital malignancies.
The treatment could allow the thousands of women undergoing surgery to remove pre-cancerous lesions in the UK every year to apply a simple cream or pessary instead. In developing countries which lack surgical facilities, and where HPV-related cervical cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in women, the discovery may be even more significant.
Drs Ian and Lynne Hampson are developing the treatment from a drug currently given orally to treat HIV. This can selectively kill cultured HPV-infected cervical cancer cells, and - as it is already available as a liquid formulation - it is hoped it could work via direct application to the cervix.
New use
Group leader Ian Hampson, based at St Mary’s Hospital, said: “It is very exciting to find such a significant new use for this HIV drug, which is already licensed and FDA-approved for oral administration. We are currently exploring the means of delivering it directly to the affected tissue, and would then move to a clinical trial. If this proves successful we could see the treatment available fairly rapidly“Although anti-HPV vaccines are in the process of being licensed, not all women will be vaccinated and not all lesions prevented. A non-surgical therapy will have significant advantages like better preservation of obstetric function and the potential for use in resource-poor settings, and it may appeal more to women than surgery.
“We are very grateful for the strong support of the Humane Research Trust, the charity who funded the development of this work.”
The team’s findings were published in September in the journal Anti-Viral Therapy, and presented at the International HPV meeting in Prague.
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