Aspirin could prevent cervical cancer in HIV-infected women

Research suggests that aspirin could inhibit the development of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women. Authors of a new report discovered that HIV induces expression of the COX-2/prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) inflammatory pathway in cervical samples from Haitian women with HIV. The findings tie two known facts together: that HIV causes chronic inflammation and that PGE2, which is elevated during inflammation, is linked to cancer development. The fact that HIV ramps up production of PGE2 in cervical tissue was not known before this study. This helps explain why HIV-positive women are five times more likely to develop invasive cervical cancer than HIV-negative women. It also suggests that inhibitors of the COX-2 molecule (which contributes to the production of PGE2) could break the link between HIV and cervical cancer. Aspirin is one of the cheapest and most effective COX inhibitors.