Daily Aspirin Demonstrates ‘Huge Effect’ in Reducing Bowel Cancer Recurrence, Trial Finds

A regular amount of aspirin can substantially reduce the likelihood of some colorectal cancers recurring after operation, according to a extensive research into the beneficial properties of the widely used drug.

Scandinavian researchers found that people who used a low regular amount of the drug after receiving tumor surgery were twice as less likely to suffer a cancer recurrence over the following several years versus those who received a dummy pill.

The research involved cancer patients whose tumours had certain gene changes that rendered them susceptible to the drug’s tumor-inhibiting properties. Roughly four in ten of bowel cancer sufferers have similar mutations.

“I think this will alter medical guidelines,” said one expert. “If you had these alterations, the chance of the disease recurring was decreased by over half. It is a substantial effect.”

Close to 2 million patients are found to have colorectal cancer each year around the world, with more than thousands of cases in the United Kingdom. Many undergo tumour removal, but regardless of advances in chemo, radiotherapy and operative procedures, the cancer can recur if malignant cells are remaining.

Rates of bowel cancer are increasing worldwide in people under 50, and while the factors are unclear, researchers suspect that junk food, excess weight, a absence of physical activity and toxins generated by gut bacteria are involved.

Prior research have shown that this medication can help prevent bowel cancer in individuals who are at increased risk due to genetic disorders such as a genetic condition. However, it was unknown whether the medication reduced the chances of cancer recurring after surgery.

Researchers recruited over three thousand five hundred patients who had undergone colorectal tumour resection at clinics across several countries. Molecular analysis on 2,980 of the participants found over 1,100, or more than a third, had mutations in DNA that are part of a cellular process known as PI3K, which is implicated in the disease.

The patients with the mutations were split to receive either a low dose of medication per day or a placebo for three years after treatment. Those using aspirin were 55% less prone to see the malignancy come back than those using the placebo, the study demonstrated.

The treatment seems to guard against cancer by reducing immune response, interfering with the specific pathway, and limiting the function of clotting cells, which can protect tumour cells and thereby conceal them from the individual’s immune system.

Scientists highlighted the need to perform molecular analysis on every bowel cancers so that people who could profit from aspirin could be given the medication. “It’s a widely available drug that is very affordable,” they noted.

This medication has been in use for over a long time, but consuming the medication regularly still carries potential side effects. In the study, several participants had “severe adverse events” potentially related to the drug, including allergy, gastrointestinal bleeding and brain hemorrhage. Four participants passed away across all groups of the trial, with a single death potentially caused by the treatment.

A scientist said: “Reducing new cancers is lifesaving, and discovering new ways to accomplish this is key to our efforts to beat cancer. There is increasing proof that in specific groups of people, small-dose aspirin can give safeguarding from intestinal cancer.”

“We need larger, well-designed studies to confirm which patients would see the greatest advantage from using this drug to help them live longer, better lives, free from the anxiety of malignancy.”