The recent study suggests that cervical cancer could prevented with the help of a simple treatment that prescribes HIV drug widely. The number of cervical cancers which is caused by the sexual transmission of HPV (human papilloma virus) is soaring, whereas the number of new cases of HIV is falling globally.
Now, HPV is the most widespread sexually transmitted infection and the most frequent cause of cervical cancer. The researchers found that the drug lopinavir eliminates cells infected by the HPV while leaving healthy cells comparatively undamaged. The research team from the University of Manchester in collaboration with Canadian researchers made the invention after conducting laboratory tests on cell cultures.
This is a significant finding because these are not cancer cells but is the contiguous thing to being similar to the cells found in a pre-cancerous HPV infection of the cervix, explained Dr Ian Hampson, from the university’s school of cancer and enabling sciences.
Besides, they were also competent to show that lopinavir annihilates these HPV-infected cells by re-activating an eminent antiviral system that is suppressed by HPV. Being effectual as treatment the drug would have to be administered to HIV patients in doses ten to fifteen times. This would indicate applying it as a cream or rather than swallowing a pill, added Dr Hampson.
Noticeably, lopinavir is safe for patients to take as pill or liquid, however, the latest findings give strong substantiation to support a clinical trial using topical application of this drug to treat HPV infections of the cervix. The HPV vaccines are not effective in women those already infected with the virus and do not protect against all HPV strains.
The cervical cancer related with HPV is one of the most common forms of cancer among women in developing courtiers and claims nearly three lakh lives each year. The researchers believe that a cheap and self-administered treatment that could eradicate early-stage HPV infections would have discrete advantages, reported the study published in the journal Antiviral Therapy.