Aspirin Stunts Tumor Growth By Reducing Blood Vessel Formation

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Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Preventive Medicine;  Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 05 Oct 2006 - 11:00 PDT

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Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) could stunt tumor growth by stopping the formation of blood vessels which nourish tumors, say researchers from Institute of Human Genetics, University of Newcastle, UK.

You can read about this new study in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Aspirin, used to treat pain, is also used to protect from heart attack. Previous studies had indicated that aspirin probably has some cancer protecting qualities. The researchers in this study wanted to find out what the possible mechanisms behind these preventative qualities were.

The scientists wanted to observe how aspirin affects tumor growth by adding it to endothelial cells. Endothelial cells are involved in angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels). They found that quite low concentrations of aspirin significantly undermined their ability to form blood vessels.

Tumors need blood vessels for oxygen and nutrients - without them they cannot grow. Cancer also uses blood vessels to spread to different parts of the body. The scientists found that aspirin restricts the blood supply to the tumor - in effect, not allowing it to grow bigger than a pea.

The researchers believe this discovery could lead the way to new cancer treatments. The problem with aspirin in its present form is that long-term intake can lead to serious gastric bleeding. The team wants to look at the molecular targets of aspirin - the parts of it that stop the formation of new blood vessels - and see if safer drugs can be developed. In other words, create drugs that combat cancer but don't cause gastric bleeding.

History of Aspirin

-- Hippocrates (500 BC) described a bitter powder, extracted from willow bark, that eased pain and reduced fevers.

-- Ancient texts along a similar vein come from Sumeria, Lebanon and Assyria.

-- Cherokee Indians used the inner bark of the willow tree for medicinal purposes.

-- In 1763 Rev. Edward Stone, Oxfordshire, UK, said the bark of the willow helped bring fevers down.

-- In 1897, Bayer chemist, Dr. Felix Hoffmann, in his search for better treatment for his father who suffered from rheumatism, synthesised acetylsalicylic acid (ASA). Click here to see the rest of the story at a Bayer web site

Therapeutic levels of aspirin and salicylate directly inhibit a model of angiogenesis through a Cox-independent mechanism
Gillian M. Borthwick, A. Sarah Johnson, Matthew Partington, John Burn, Robert Wilson and Helen M. Arthur
The FASEB Journal. 2006;20:2009-2016.
Click here to see abstract online

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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