Cancer use found for wonder drug aspirin

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 14 Aug 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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Research reveals painkiller could be used to treat rare tumours

Scientists yesterday floated the possibility that the versatile drug aspirin could be used as a treatment for some rare forms of cancer.

Its first appearance in this field might be in some form of gel to treat an unusual inherited skin condition but the century-old wonder drug, or one of its stronger anti-inflammatory cousins, might also be effective in fighting breast cancer, researchers suggested.

Hardly a month goes by without some new use being mooted for the cheap painkiller. Its role in preventing heart disease is long established but there has been much excitement among researchers at its potential for cutting the risk of a range of cancers.

Now there is a strengthening belief that it might become a treatment option, too, as research letters published today in Nature, the science journal, take the debate further.

British and Greek scientists have found that a cancer called turban tumour syndrome, in which huge mushroom-shaped tumours grow out of the scalp and other hairy parts of the body, is caused when the body's inflammatory response becomes overactive.

A gene that should control a molecule involved in this process is damaged, helping to fuel the growth of cancer cells.

The researchers, including a team from Cancer Research UK, believe aspirin or a stronger relative could counter the molecule in the absence of a healthy gene. Support for the theory comes from separate research by Dutch scientists also reported today. They found that aspirin could kill cancer cells in the laboratory.

Alan Ashworth of Cancer Research UK's gene function and regulation group at the Institute of Cancer Research said: 'Inflamed tissues release a host of growth factors and other molecules that may help keep cancer cells alive, so dampening down the inflammation with drugs like aspirin could be a highly effective anti-cancer treatment.'

He added: 'It is important we put the theory to the test in patients as soon as we can. In the case of turban tumour disease, we think anti-inflammatory drugs could be rubbed into tumours in gel form in order to shrink them, or perhaps given to younger patients before they have begun to show signs of the disease.' He hoped tests might be possible 'within a year or so'.

It has not all been good news for aspirin in recent years, however. Constant use can bring serious side-effects including stomach bleeding, which is why people are advised to consult their doctors before taking it for its much-trumpeted health benefits.

Last year its use among under-16s was banned in Britain to minimise the risks of young people contracting a rare disease called Reye's syndrome, a condition that can lead to seizures, comas or even death.

Pregnant women are also advised not to take aspirin for fear of increasing the risk of miscarriage. The drug is not suitable for breastfeeding mothers.

From willow extract to superpill

400BC Hippocrates gives Greek women willow-leaf tea to relieve pain of childbirth

1763 The Rev Edward Stone, of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, gives dried willow leaves to parishioners with rheumatic fever

1823 Active ingredient extracted from willow and named salicin

1853 French scientists make salicylic acid but it is found to irritate the gut

1893 German scientists find a way of reducing its irritant properties

1897 In Germany, Bayer's Felix Hoffman patents way of synthesising acetyl salicylic acid. Clinical trials begin

1899 Trials completed. Aspirin launched

1930s Patents run out. Aspirin becomes a generic drug

1974 First evidence of aspirin preventing heart attacks is found by British scientists

1982 British scientist Sir John Vane and two Swedish colleagues receive Nobel Prize for discovering the role of aspirin in preventing blood clots

1989 First suggestion that aspirin may prevent dementia. May also prevent pre-eclampsia, a condition in pregnancy

1995 First evidence aspirin protects against bowel cancer

2002 Studies suggest aspirin cuts risk of lung and pancreatic cancer, stroke and Alzheimer's disease

2003 Evidence aspirin cuts risk of cancer in breast, mouth, throat, oesophagus and colon. Suggestion aspirin should be part of a new 'polypill' to cut heart attacks and strokes