By Admin at 16 Nov 2015, 16:43 PM

A new clinical trial has begun in the UK to determine whether aspirin, an inexpensive, widely available over-the-counter drug, may help prevent cancers from recurring.

The trial, the world’s largest on this topic to date, has enrolled about 11,000 people who have had early bowel, breast, prostate, stomach or esophageal cancer. The participants will take different doses of aspirin or a placebo pill daily for five years and be checked for cancer recurrence. The full study may last up to 12 years.

While regular aspirin use isn’t recommended for everyone, as it can cause serious side effects including ulcers and bleeding in your stomach and brain, previous research has suggested the drug may have anti-cancer properties.

In 2010, for instance, a meta-analysis of eight clinical trials published in The Lancet found daily aspirin use reduced deaths due to several common cancers. The “benefit increased with duration of treatment and was consistent across the different study populations,” according to researchers.

Another Lancet meta-analysis, published in 2012, found that daily aspirin use may also reduce cancer growth or metastasis and concluded “aspirin might help in treatment of some cancers and [the analysis] provides proof of principle for pharmacological intervention specifically to prevent distant metastasis.”

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) even released draft recommendations in September 2015 recommending that adults in their 50s who do not have risk factors for stomach bleeding take low-dose aspirin daily to help prevent colorectal cancer. According to American Cancer Society researcher Eric J. Jacobs, Ph.D.:

“ … there is now definitive evidence that long-term daily aspirin use, even at low doses, will lower risk of developing colorectal cancer, probably by approximately 40%. However, this benefit is unlikely to “kick in” immediately. There appears to be a delay of several years between when aspirin use is started and when risk of developing colorectal cancer is reduced. …

Besides colorectal cancer, there is good evidence that aspirin use lowers the risk of developing cancer of the esophagus, and fairly good evidence that aspirin use also lowers the risk of developing stomach cancer … For other cancers, the evidence is weaker.

Some studies suggest that aspirin users are at slightly lower risk of developing certain other cancers, including two of the most common, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

However, other studies have found no effect. None of these studies are randomized trials, the most reliable type of study, where people are randomly assigned to take either aspirin or a placebo pill.”

This is where the new UK clinical trial will prove invaluable, as it will be a randomized trial involving aspirin and a placebo to hopefully set the record straight on aspirin’s potential anti-cancer benefits. If the study finds aspirin to be favorable for cancer prevention, researchers note it would be “game-changing” because it would provide an inexpensive method to help patients survive.

Sources:
BBC News October 22, 2015
American Cancer Society September 24, 2015
Lancet April 28, 2012

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