A new study shows that a simple skin-prick test may be useful in helping HIV-positive women determine if their immune systems are strong enough to control cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. The study, published in AIDS and reported by AIDSmap, found higher rates of precancerous cervical lesions in HIV-positive women whose immune systems failed to respond to the skin test.
Tiffany Harris, PhD, and her colleagues from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) performed a skin test, known as the Mantoux anergy test, along with Pap smears and DNA testing for strains of HPV in 1,029 HIV-positive women and 272 HIV-negative women. The test measures a person’s immune response to common infections like mumps. A weak test result indicates a poor immune response to these and potentially other infections. The Pap smears were used to diagnose precancerous cervical neoplasia, and the DNA testing looked for HPV strains known to increase the risk of cervical cancer.
The study found that HIV-positive women with the weakest response to the anergy test were 70 percent more likely to have cervical neoplasia and 24 percent more likely to be infected with a strain of HPV associated with an increased cervical cancer risk. The anergy test was more predictive of these conditions than a low CD4 cell count or a high viral load, both of which have been associated in other studies with a higher risk for cervical neoplasia. While the study’s results are compelling, the authors state that further research is needed to validate the study’s results before they are put into clinical practice.
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