Aspirin Can Help Prevent Tumor Growth and Recurrence of Colorectal Cancer

A study has discovered that taking aspirin daily can prevent the recurrence of colorectal cancer and tumor growth. Previously, aspirin was found to be beneficial to heart health.

Now scientists are working to find the correct dose of aspirin that will be used as a daily prophylactic without the patient experience side effects such as brain and stomach bleeds.

Aspirin has the potential to prevent diseases derived from chronic inflammation such as arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. However, too much of it can cause gastrointestinal issues since this anti-inflammatory drug can destroy the mucus lining of the stomach.

The right dose of aspirin needed to prevent and treat colorectal cancer will be required in order to avoid dangerous side effects.

In a study:

Mouse models and mathematical modeling was used to find out the amount of aspirin taken by participants in clinical trials every day.

They tested three different doses of aspirin in four cancer cell lines. This included tumors that had mutations in the PIK3CA gene and those with microsatellite instability. The tumors are known to have high risks of colon, endometrial, and aggressive breast cancers.

After inspecting the cellular apoptosis (the programmed death of the cells), it was discovered that all the cell lines had a high percentage of the cells that were programmed to die.

It was also found that increased aspirin doses also improved cell death rates while reducing the rates of cell division. This means that tumor cells will die instead of proliferating. They then concluded that aspirin could trigger cell death in colorectal cell lines without regard to the genetic background.

They also noted that low dose aspirin could suppress tumor growth in models with high numbers of PIK3CA genes.

The team is now analyzing data and using mathematical modeling to improve the confidence of the findings.