Aspirin can help stop cancers from spreading (Image: Getty)
have uncovered how the cheap painkiller aspirin can help stop cancers from spreading. Studies of people with have previously observed that those taking daily low-dose aspirin have a reduction in the spread of some cancers, such as breast, bowel, and prostate cancers.
However, it wasn’t until now it was known exactly how aspirin could prevent metastases. In animal experiments, they showed that the drug enhanced the immune system’s ability to fight back. The team at the University of Cambridge said it was an exciting and surprising discovery. The study, published in , found that, in mice, aspirin acted on platelets — the tiny cells that cause blood to clot — making them produce less of a clotting factor, thromboxane A2 (TXA2), that suppresses immune T cells. With less TXA2 suppressing them, these T cells can then destroy any spreading cancer cells.
Aspirin was found to enhance the ability of the immune system to fight back (Image: Getty)
The researchers previously screened 810 genes in mice and found 15 that had an effect on cancer metastasis. In particular, they found that mice lacking a gene which produces a protein called ARHGEF1 had less metastasis of various primary cancers to the lungs and liver.
The researchers determined that ARHGEF1 suppresses a type of immune cell called a T cell, which can recognise and kill metastatic cancer cells.
Dr Jie Yang, the first author of the report in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, said: “It was a Eureka moment when we found TXA2 was the molecular signal that activates this suppressive effect on T cells. Before this, we had not been aware of the implications of our findings in understanding the anti-metastatic activity of aspirin. It was an entirely unexpected finding which sent us down quite a different path of enquiry than we had anticipated.”
“Aspirin, or other drugs that could target this pathway, have the potential to be less expensive than antibody-based therapies, and therefore more accessible globally.”
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However, the researchers caution that aspirin can have and may not be suitable for everyone. Commonly, aspirin can cause stomach or gut irritation, nausea, and indigestion.
Other side effects that are less common include worsening asthma symptoms, vomiting, stomach inflammation or bleeding, and bruising. Rarely, and particularly in those taking a daily dose, it may cause bleeding in the brain, kidney failure or haemorrhagic stroke.
The researchers now plan to help the translation of their work into potential clinical practice by collaborating with Professor Ruth Langley of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at University College London, who is leading the Add-Aspirin clinical trial, to find out if aspirin can stop or delay early stage cancers from coming back.
Professor Langley, who was uninvolved in this study, commented: “This is an important discovery. It will enable us to interpret the results of ongoing clinical trials and determine who will most likely benefit from aspirin after a cancer diagnosis.
“In a small proportion of people, aspirin can cause serious side-effects, including bleeding or stomach ulcers. Therefore, it is important to understand which people with cancer are likely to benefit.”