Regular Low Dose of Aspirin Prevents Progression of Breast Cancer

The common drug aspirin has a lot more to offer than just relieving pain and reducing fever. Regular use of low doses of aspirin slows the growth of breast cancer, according to the latest study that was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., along with the University of Kansas Medical Center. The study was conducted on mice, and the researches noticed that aspirin arrested the growth of breast cancer cell lines in the lab. It also reduced the growth of tumors. The drug prevents the tumor cells from spreading.

Apart from the current study, previous studies have shown that aspirin reduces the risk of prostate and esophageal cancer. Anecdotal evidence states that the progress of breast cancer is lowered in those women who consumed aspirin to lower the risk of heart attacks or stroke. Not much is known about this relation, though.

The researchers noticed that aspirin interferes with the ability of the cancer cells to find an aggressive state. They conducted a study on mice, where the cancer cells that were treated with aspirin formed partial stem cells which propagates the spread of tumors.

Aspirin blocked the increase of two breast cancer lines, in which one line was the triple negative breast cancer, which is difficult to treat.

"First-line chemotherapy treatments do not destroy stem cells. Eventually, the tumor will grow again. If you don't target the stemness, it is known you will not get any effect. It will relapse. We are mainly interested in triple negative breast cancer, because the prognosis is very poor," Sushanta Banerjee, a professor of medicine in division of hematology and oncology, was quoted as saying in a press statement.