Breast cancer rates are on the rise for women under 40 in the US, with recent research showing they have increased by more than 0.5% per year in 21 states.
Additionally, prostate cancer rates have increased by 2% to 3% annually, and colon cancer rates have risen by 1% to 2% per year among individuals younger than 55, data shows.
Now, a new study has identified one popular drug as a potential agent in slowing the progression of certain cancers — including those of the breast, bowel and prostate — and the best part is that it’s available over the counter.
Aspirin can help the immune system fight cancer spread by blocking a chemical (TXA2), made by blood platelets, that would otherwise weaken the body’s T cells, which are important for attacking cancer cells, the study found.
Previous research has indicated that aspirin has the potential to slow the progression of some cancers.
A 2021 analysis that reviewed 13 studies with over 140,000 breast cancer patients found that aspirin use was linked to a 31% reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality and a 9% decrease in recurrence or metastasis risk.
Regular aspirin use was also associated with a more than 25% reduction in the risk of colon cancer in a 2020 analysis.
However, precisely how aspirin seemed to slow down the spread was unclear — until now.
The new findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, could have far-reaching implications, especially since 90% of cancer deaths occur when cancer spreads throughout the body.
“Most immunotherapies are developed to treat patients with established metastatic cancer, but when cancer first spreads there’s a unique therapeutic window of opportunity when cancer cells are particularly vulnerable to immune attack,” said lead study author Rahul Roychoudhuri, a professor of cancer immunology at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
“We hope that therapies that target this window of vulnerability will have tremendous scope in preventing recurrence in patients with early cancer at risk of recurrence.”
This could mean more cost-effective and accessible treatment options for people with early stages of cancer.
“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,” co-author Dr. Jie Yang said.
UK professor Ruth Langley, who is leading the Add-Aspirin clinical trial but was not involved in this study, said this was “an important discovery [that] will enable us to interpret the results of ongoing clinical trials and work out who is most likely to benefit from aspirin after a cancer diagnosis.”
If you’re considering adding aspirin to your daily routine, check with your doctor first. The pill is not for everyone.
