HIV drug could prevent 'cervical cancer by killing off virus that causes disease'

A simple treatment using a widely prescribed HIV drug could prevent cervical cancer, research suggests.
It raises new hope for victims as the number of cervical cancers caused by the sexual transmission of human papilloma virus (HPV) soar - while the number of new cases of HIV are falling across the globe.
HPV is now the most common sexually transmitted infection and the most common cause of cervical cancer.
It also triggers significant numbers of mouth and throat cancers in both men and women after it is transmitted through oral sex.
Earlier research suggests that one in six British women have HPV.

Around 3,000 women in the UK each year contract cervical cancer and it accounts for more than 900 deaths.
The drug lopinavir kills cells infected by the HPV while leaving healthy cells relatively unharmed, scientists have found.
Researchers from the University of Manchester, working with colleagues in Canada, made the discovery after carrying out laboratory tests on cell cultures.
Dr Ian Hampson, from the university's school of cancer and enabling sciences, said: ‘This is a very significant finding as these cells are not cancer cells but are the closest thing to being like the cells found in a pre-cancerous HPV infection of the cervix.
‘In addition we were also able to show that lopinavir kills these HPV-infected cells by re-activating a well-known antiviral system that is suppressed by HPV.’
To be effective as a treatment, the drug would have to be administered in doses 10 to 15 times that taken by HIV patients. This would mean applying it as a cream or pessary, rather than swallowing a tablet, said Dr Hampson.

The research is published today in the journal Antiviral Therapy.
Co-author Dr Lynne Hampson said: ‘These results are very exciting since they show that the drug not only preferentially kills HPV-infected non-cancerous cells by re-activating known antiviral defence systems, it is also much less toxic to normal non-HPV infected cells.
‘Lopinavir is obviously safe for people to take as tablets or liquid but our latest findings provide very strong evidence to support a clinical trial using topical application of this drug to treat HPV infections of the cervix.’
Although HPV vaccines are already in use, they suffer from a number of drawbacks, the scientists pointed out.
Vaccines are not effective in women already infected with the virus, and they do not protect against all HPV strains.
In addition they are prohibitively expensive, limiting their use in poorer countries.
HPV-related cervical cancer is one of the most common women's cancers in developing countries, accounting for around 290,000 deaths per year.
A cheap, self-administered treatment which could eliminate early-stage HPV infections would have distinct advantages, say the researchers