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2012-03-21 07:53:10
By Kate Kelland | Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Three new studies published on Wednesday added to growing
scientific evidence suggesting that taking a daily dose of aspirin can help
prevent, and possibly treat, cancer.
Previous studies have found that daily aspirin reduces the long-term risk of
death due to cancer, but until now the shorter-term effects have been less
certain - as has the medicine's potential in patients already diagnosed with
cancer.
The new studies, led by Peter Rothwell of Britain's Oxford University, found
that aspirin also has a short-term benefit in preventing cancer, and that it
reduces the likelihood that cancers will spread to other organs by about 40 to
50 percent.
"These findings add to the case for use of aspirin to prevent cancer,
particularly if people are at increased risk," Rothwell said.
"Perhaps more importantly, they also raise the distinct possibility that
aspirin will be effective as an additional treatment for cancer - to prevent
distant spread of the disease."
This was particularly important because it is the process of spread of cancer,
or "metastasis", which most often kills people with the disease, he added.
Aspirin, originally developed by Bayer, is a cheap over-the-counter drug
generally used to combat pain or reduce fever.
The drug reduces the risk of clots forming in blood vessels and can therefore
protect against heart attacks and strokes, so it is often prescribed for people
who already suffer with heart disease and have already had one or several
attacks.
Aspirin also increases the risk of bleeding in the stomach to around one
patient in every thousand per year, a factor which has fuelled an intense
debate about whether doctors should advise patients to take it as regularly as
every day.
Last year, a study by British researchers questioned the wisdom of daily
aspirin for reducing the risk of early death from a heart attack or stroke
because they said the increased risk of internal bleeding outweighed the
potential benefit.
Other studies, including some by Rothwell in 2007, 2010 and 2011, found that an
aspirin a day, even at a low dose of around 75 milligrams, reduces the
long-term risk of developing some cancers, particularly bowel and oesophageal
cancer, but the effects don't show until eight to 10 years after the start of
treatment.
Rothwell, whose new studies were published in The Lancet and The Lancet
Oncology journals on Wednesday, said this delay was because aspirin was
preventing the very early development of cancers and there was a long time lag
between this stage and a patient having clinical signs or symptoms of cancer.
Rothwell and others said deeper research was now needed into aspirin as a
potential treatment for cancer in patients whose disease has not yet spread.
"No drug has been shown before to prevent distant metastasis and so these
findings should focus future research on this crucial aspect of treatment," he
said.
Peter Johnson, chief clinician at the charity Cancer Research UK, said his
group was already investigating the anti-cancer properties of aspirin. "These
findings show we're on the right track," he said.
In a written commentary on the research in The Lancet, Andrew Chan and Nancy
Cook of Harvard Medical School in the United States said it was "impressive"
and moved health experts "another step closer to broadening recommendations for
aspirin use".
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Susan Fenton)