Aspirin effective against tumors

(MVO News): Aspirin drug may prevent the spread of cancer because they help to extinguish the  chemicals that feed tumors, Australian researchers found in a study.

Last year, a study had found that aspirin was able to reduce rates of cancer of the colon, prostate, lung, brain and throat if taken on a daily basis. Now scientists at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said they had discovered how this could happen by reducing the dilation of lymphatic vessels, the key to the transmission of metastatic cells throughout the body.

Doctors have long suspected that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory such as aspirin may help inhibit the spread of cancer, but now they found exactly this process.

Through the study of cells in the lymphatic vessels, the researchers found that a particular gene modifies its expression in tumors that spread metastatic cells, but not when the cancer is not yet widespread.

The results published in the journal Cancer Cell, reveals that the gene is the key to understanding the link between the growth of a tumor and the way that causes inflammation and dilation of lymphatic vessels throughout the body.

The discovery could lead to new drugs that could help many solid tumors, including breast cancer and the prostate, as well as potentially providing an “early warning system” before a cancer starts to spread.