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The drug from HIV helps prevent cervical cancer
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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Scientists claim that a widely used drug against HIV called Lopinavir can help prevent cervical cancer. The most common cause of cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus, which is sexually transmitted and can also cause oral cancer and throat cancer.
Scientists at the University of Manchester (University of Manchester) found that the antiviral drug Lopinavir kills cells infected with HPV, virtually without affecting healthy cells. Researchers came to this conclusion in the course of scientific experiments on cell cultures. Traditional vaccines are not effective for women infected with human papillomavirus and also can not protect against all of its strains.
In addition, such vaccines are quite expensive, which limits their use in developing countries. Cervical cancer caused by HPV is one of the most common cancers among women in developing countries, where it accounts for about 290 000 deaths each year.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Lynn Hampson, stated: "The results of this study showed that the Lopinavir drug not only kills predominantly HPV-infected non-cancer cells, activating the body's antiviral systems, but it is also less toxic to healthy cells."