Aspirin protects against colorectal cancer, says international clinical trial
A daily dose of aspirin can prevent the occurrence of cancer in people with a genetic predisposition towards Lynch syndrome, a condition which accounts for around five percent of all colon cancers, a scientist told Europe’s largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 – ESMO 34, in Berlin today.
Professor John Burn, from the Institute of Human Genetics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, said that he believed that he and his colleagues might have uncovered a simple way of controlling cancer stem cells, which are essential to the formation of malignant tumours.
The clinical trial, which involved 1071 carriers of the Lynch syndrome mutation in 42 centres worldwide, randomised participants to a daily dose of 600mg aspirin and/or 30g Novelose, a resistant starch that escapes digestion in the small intestine. “Although there were many reports that aspirin might have a beneficial effect in a range of cancers,” said Prof Burn, “they were from case control and epidemiological studies. We decided that the only way to achieve conclusive proof was to undertake a randomised trial in a high risk population.”
Read the whole article at ecancermedicalscience
Reference
- 15th Congress of the European CanCer Organization (ECCO 15) and the 34th European Society for Medical Oncology (34th ESMO) Multidisciplinary Congress: Abstract 6000. Presented September 21, 2009.
Keywords: aspirin, Lynch syndrome, hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), cancer stem cells
21. 9. 2009 ecancermedicalscience
