Aspirin and Cancer

Aspirin is a derivative of salicylic acid. Salicylic acid was originally extracted from willow leaves and other plants such as medowsweet to treat pain. Friedrich Bayer, a chemist who wanted to soothe his father’s arthritic pain, synthesized acetylsalicylic, the present day aspirin. Acetylsalicylic acid has fewer side effects than the salicylic acid extracted from plant sources. Aspirin is the most widely used drug today. People use it to reduce pain, fever, and to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Recent studies show that aspirin can also prevent cancers or reduce the cancer incidence.

Cancer studies

Taking aspirin is protective of the colon and a regular aspirin regimen can prevent or reduce your risk of getting colon cancer. A recent study found that even a low dose of aspirin, 75 mg, which is a little less than found in a baby aspirin, can reduce the incidence of colon cancer by 20 percent after one year and 30 percent after five years. Another study, published in the journal Lancet, showed that daily aspirin intake can also protect against lung and esophageal cancers. Results, presented at the American Association of Cancer Research, found that taking at least once a month reduced pancreatic cancer risk by 26 percent and people on a low dose aspirin regimen had a 35 percent lower incident of pancreatic cancer. Aspirin may also reduce the incidence of other cancers, but more studies are needed.

How aspirin works

Aspirin inhibits two enzymes, COX-1 (cyclooxygenase-1 and COX-2 (Cyclooxygenase-2) in the body. These enzymes help produce prostaglandins. Some prostaglandins regulate normal metabolic processes, while others are generated during injury or an immune response. Prostaglandins, released due to injury or immune reactions, cause pain, inflammation, and fever. Prostaglandins also cause blood platelet aggregation and facilitate the formation of blood clots. Aspirin inhibits platelet aggregation, which in part may account for its ability to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Low dose aspirin also has a direct effect on the synthesis of anti-inflammatory substances, called lipoxins. Aspirin reduces fever by inhibiting the actions of prostaglandins in the brain. These prostaglandins prevent the brain from reducing body temperature.

Precautions

Like many drugs, aspirin can have serious side effects due to overdosing or allergy to aspirin. Sometimes, overdosing occurs because other prescription and non-prescription drugs contain aspirin. Children and the elderly are at highest risk for overdosing. Because aspirin affects platelet aggregation and blood clotting, it increases the chance of bleeding, especially during surgery and childbirth. Aspirin’s inhibition of prostaglandins, which protect the stomach lining, may irritate the stomach and cause bleeding. A very rare disease, Reye syndrome, has also been associated with virus infections and onset of aspirin treatment in children. The cause of Reye syndrome is not known.

Sources

Din, F.V.et al. Effect of aspirin and NSAIDs on risk and survival from colorectal cancer. Gut (2010) 59: 1670

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110404084318.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1894700/

http://www.creatingtechnology.org/biomed/aspirin.htm

http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/news/daily-aspirin-use-lowers-cancer-death-risk-study-finds


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