How aspirin could help combat cancer

Yahoo

05-03-2025

Aspirin stops cancer from spreading by keeping immune cells functioning, scientists have found in a 'Eureka' discovery.
Previous studies have hinted that the over-the-counter drug may lower the risk of getting some cancers, stop them metastasising and even prevent death, but researchers were puzzled about how it worked.
Now, British scientists have found that aspirin plays a crucial role in keeping immune cells called T cells active so they can fight off cancer spread.
Experts from Cambridge University discovered that a protein is responsible for switching off immune cells which fight cancer spread.
That protein is triggered by a clotting molecule called thromboxane A2 (TXA2), and aspirin can keep it at bay. It is the reason that aspirin also helps prevent blood clotting.
Dr Jie Yang, an expert in cancer immunology, from 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 implication of our findings in understanding the anti-metastatic activity of aspirin.
'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.'
The research found that aspirin can prevent cancers from spreading by decreasing TXA2, releasing T cells from being suppressed so they can kill cancer cells.
In mice given aspirin, the frequency of metastases was reduced compared with mice not on the drug.
Prof Rahul Roychoudhuri, also from the university, who led the study, said: 'Despite advances in cancer treatment, many patients with early stage cancers receive treatments, such as surgical removal of the tumour, which have the potential to be curative, but later relapse due to the eventual growth of micrometastases – cancer cells that have seeded other parts of the body but remain in a latent state.
'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
'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.'
Researchers are now working with Prof Ruth Langley, 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.
Prof Langley said the finding was 'an important discovery'.
'It 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,' she said.
'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, and always talk to your doctor before starting aspirin.'
Experts said the new research may also help to design better drugs that decrease TXA2 without the harmful side-effects of aspirin.
The research, which was funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust, was published in the journal Nature.
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