AIDS cripples the body's immune system, leaving it vulnerable to all types of infections. For women, that means an increased susceptibility to cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions, abnormal growths in the cervix that can sometimes lead to cancer. Some scientists have guessed that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) might help cure the lesions because it can boost the body's overall immune system. Researchers from around the country studied women with AIDS to see if HAART therapy, already considered the most effective way to treat HIV, might also help cure cervical lesions.

What the researchers wanted to know: Does HAART cure cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions in HIV-positive women?

What they did: The researchers looked at a sample of 312 women with HIV who developed squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) in their cervix. The women were part of a larger study of women with HIV who had an examination, including a Pap smear, by a doctor every six months. At each doctor visit, the researchers asked these women what drugs they were taking to help treat HIV and when they started taking them. They followed up for several years to see if the women's lesions got better.

What they found: Before women were given HAART, their cervical lesions did not improve at all, and the lesions of the women who never got drug therapy never got better. However, even though women who were on HAART did fare better, still only 12.5 percent of them had cervical lesions that improved each year. Younger women and women with higher T-cell counts (a measure of immunity) had a better chance of seeing their lesions improve.

What it means to you: Antiretroviral therapy has added years to the lives of many women with HIV by slowing the development of AIDS. By boosting the body's immune system, as this study shows, it may also help treat cervical lesions that can be a precursor to cancer. The effect of HAART in this study was not great, but women on HAART did better than women who didn't take the drug combination.

Caveats: First, the researchers relied on women's own reports of what drugs they were taking. While there's no reason to think they would lie, there was also no way to confirm that they were always compliant with the therapy they had been prescribed. Second, the improvement of the cervical SILs was measured through the use of a Pap smear, which is not always as sensitive as measuring lesions through other medical tests such as a colposcopy. However, the Pap smears had the advantage of being performed twice a year, so that the researchers could monitor progress often.

Find out more: The American Academy of Family Physicians has information for women who are infected with AIDS.

For a more scientific take, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the idea that HIV-positive women are more likely to have cervical disease.

Read the article: Ahdieh-Grant, L. et al. "Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and Cervical Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Women." Journal of the National Cancer Institute. July 21, 2004, Vol. 96, No. 4, pp. 1070-1076.

Abstract online: http://jncicancerspectrum.oupjournals.org