Aspirin may dramatically reduce risk for colon cancer, according to a
new study. But, the effect seems to be limited to people who lack
certain genetic mutations tied to tumor risk.
The study that
looked at nearly 130,000 people adds more evidence to the cheap, chalky
white pill's disease-fighting properties and its limitations.
"This
finding further supports the use of aspirin for the prevention of
colorectal cancer, but adds an additional nuance, in that not all colon
cancers behave the same way," study author Dr. Andrew Chan, a
gastroenterologist from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,
told Medscape.
Aspirin is a drug known as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, and is taken for fever reduction and reducing pain and muscle
aches. Many people also take aspirin daily to prevent heart attacks and
other cardiac problems.
The drug has also been linked to anti-cancer properties.
Cancers
of the colon and rectum, or colorectal cancer, are a leading cause of
cancer deaths worldwide. In the United States alone, more than 142,000
new cases and nearly 51,000 deaths are expected this year, according to
the National Cancer Institute.
For
the new research, Chan and his colleagues reviewed two long-running
studies that kicked off in the 1980s and ran through the late 2000s,
involving 127,865 individuals.
Participants were given questionnaires
twice per year on their health habits, including whether they took
aspirin, and were followed up with in 2006 to see who had developed
cancer and again in 2012 to see if anyone had died from cancer.
The
researchers identified more than 1,200 cases of colorectal cancer out
of the participant pool. They found regular aspirin use was linked to a
27 percent lower risk of colon cancer not linked to mutations in the
BRAF gene. BRAF is a gene that when mutated has the potential to cause
normal cells to become cancerous.
The researchers also found the
more aspirin tablets a person took per week, the lower the cancer risk
for people without the genetic mutations. Risk was also proportionately
lowered the longer a patient took aspirin.
The researchers,
however, found no significant colon cancer risk reduction in patients
who had the mutated BRAF gene, regardless of how many aspirin tablets
they took per week or regardless of duration.
"This suggests that
the potential protective effect of aspirin may differ by BRAF status in
the early phase of tumor evolution before clinical detection," wrote
the researchers in the study, which was published June 26 in JAMA.
Chan also conducted a study last October that found people diagnosed with colon cancer who took aspirin regularly lived longer than those who didn't take aspirin.
In an accompanying editorial, also published June 26 in JAMA,
Dr. Boris Pasche, professor of hematology and oncology at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, said the
findings are bringing scientists closer to dissecting aspirin's
mechanism of action with respect to cancer development.
"If
validated in future studies, these findings add to the body of evidence
that suggest certain patients with colorectal cancer may greatly improve
their odds of survival with an aspirin regimen," he told UAB News.
However,
he added the findings may not be generalized to some populations.
He
pointed out in his commentary that the two large participant pools were
predominantly white, but black individuals have the highest rates of
colorectal cancer in the country.
"Therefore, it will be
important to determine whether the findings reported...are confirmed in
black individuals," Pasche wrote in his commentary.
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