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Experts say AZT study is no cause for alarm
Cancer in mice only after high dosages of drug
November 4, 1997
Web posted at: 11:32 p.m. EST (0432 GMT)From Senior Medical Correspondent Dan Rutz
ATLANTA (CNN) -- AIDS specialists say there should be no cause for alarm over a study showing that AZT appears to cause cancer in mice which were exposed to the drug before birth.
AZT is routinely used to lower the odds of HIV transmission from pregnant women to their newborns. The report, published in this week's Journal of the National Cancer Institute, describes experiments in which pregnant mice were given high doses of AZT.
Their offspring were found to be two to eight times as likely to develop liver or lung cancers compared to comparable litters not exposed to the drug.
The cancers showed up when the mice were around one year old, or midway through their life cycle. There was no increased cancer risk detected in the offspring of rodents who received AZT doses approximating those given to pregnant women.
Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said there have been no reports of cancer in children born to women taking AZT during pregnancy.
AZT has been shown to reduce by two-thirds the chance of a baby, whose mother is infected with HIV, being born with the infection.
AIDS risk higher than cancer risk
The experts say that the risk of HIV and AIDS is far greater in children born to HIV-infected women than the theoretical risk of cancer later in life.
They add, however, that these children require close monitoring for cancer and that women receiving AZT should be informed of the possible cancer risk.
CNN reported on the study in January, when a government panel first reviewed the data and recommended that HIV positive pregnant women take AZT to reduce the risk of conveying their HIV infections to their newborns.
Related stories:
- HIV transmission rates to newborns drop - May 6, 1997
- CDC: Mother-to-child transmission of HIV declines - November 21, 1996
Related sites:
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- Journal of the National Cancer Institute
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- AIDS Daily Summary - short summations from the CDC that give news and highlights of news relating to HIV/AIDS and related diseases.
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