Has the introduction of antiretroviral therapy changed the cancer risk of people infected with HIV?
The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the mid-1990s greatly reduced the incidence of Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma among people infected with HIV (1–4, 6, 7). HAART lowers the amount of HIV circulating in the blood, thereby allowing partial restoration of immune system function. Although lower than before, the risk of these two cancers is still much higher among people infected with HIV than among people in the general population. This persistently high risk may be due, at least in part, to the fact that immune system function remains substantially impaired in people treated with HAART. In addition, over time, HIV can develop resistance to the drugs used in HAART, and many people infected with HIV have had difficulty in accessing medical care or taking their medication as prescribed (3). Although the introduction of HAART has led to reductions in the incidence of Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma among HIV-infected individuals, it has not r
