ABSTRACT
The risk of certain cancers is increased among those infected with HIV. Four
cancers are currently considering AIDS-defining malignancies (ADMs) by the
Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. They are Kaposi’s sarcoma
(KS), intermediate and high-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), pri-
mary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), and invasive cervical cancer
(1). Each of these malignancies has been associated with infection by viruses other
than HIV, including human herpes virus type 8 (HHV-8) in KS (2), Epstein-Barr
virus (EBV) in lymphoma (3), and oncogenic types of human papilloma virus
(HPV) in cervical cancer (4). Although these viral infections may be necessary for
the development of neoplasia, infection alone is not sufficient. Underlying
immunosuppression in the host is thought to play an important role in the
development of malignancy associated with these organisms (5).
