That's not hard to swallow! Daily aspirin could stop cancer in its tracks by shutting down blood clot enzyme

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February 15, 2017February 15, 2017
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  • The popular pain-killer disrupts the way blood platelets react with growths 
  • Specifically, it switches off down the enzyme COX-1, reducing their activity
  • This, in turn, denies the malignant masses the ‘nutrients’ needed to expand  

It has already been credited with helping to reduce heart attack risk, but now it seems that daily doses of aspirin could also help tackle cancer.

New research from Texas suggests the pain-relief medication’s interaction with blood cells could stop tumors from growing.

The findings, which were published in the February 2017 issue of Cancer Prevention Research, offers fresh scope for future treatment possibilities.

Cost-effective supplement: At just 30 pence per packet, Aspirin could help tackle cancer without breaking the bank 

Cost-effective supplement: At just 30 pence per packet, Aspirin could help tackle cancer without breaking the bank

Specifically, it notes that how the drug’s response to platelets – the blood’s clotting agent – may assist oncology patients.

Academics commissioned by Veterans Affairs Research found the way aspirin disrupts the normal clotting process can deprive the malignant masses from expanding.

Their lab tests showed it works by shutting down the enzyme COX-1, thereby curbing the number of circulating platelets and their level of activity.

Some of the experiments used regular aspirin from a local drug store. In another phase, the researchers used a special preparation of aspirin combined with phosphatidylcholine, a type of lipid, or fat molecule.

The molecule is a main ingredient in soy lecithin. The product, known as Aspirin-PC/PL2200, now in development by Houston-based PLx Pharma, Inc., is designed to ease the gastrointestinal risk associated with standard aspirin.

The enhanced aspirin complex was even stronger against cancer than the regular aspirin.

Not hard to swallow! Academics commissioned by Veterans Affairs Research found the way aspirin disrupts the normal clotting process can deprive the malignant masses from expanding

Not hard to swallow! Academics commissioned by Veterans Affairs Research found the way aspirin disrupts the normal clotting process can deprive the malignant masses from expanding

BREAST CANCER DRUG REJECTED

A revolutionary drug considered ‘the closest thing to a cure’ ever developed for breast cancer is set to be rejected for use on the NHS, officials announced last week.

Experts said the decision highlights a serious problem at the heart of England’ s drug appraisal system – and called for an urgent overhaul of the NHS drugs watchdog.

Palbociclib halts the most common form of breast cancer in its tracks, freezing the growth of aggressive tumors.

This delays the need for grueling chemotherapy, enabling women to lead normal lives for years at a time.

‘These results suggest that aspirin’s chemopreventive effects may be due, in part, to the drug blocking the proneoplastic action of platelets,’ they wrote.

The news comes less than six months after it was revealed that liquid aspirin can cross the ‘blood-brain barrier’ – a hurdle which has so far stopped cancer drugs attacking brain tumors.

The research, carried out by Portsmouth University and a three-man start-up company in Manchester, was welcomed by experts as a ‘game-changer’.

More than 16,000 people each year in Britain are diagnosed with a brain tumor, yet campaigners have long warned that patients are left behind by a system which allocates them just 1 per cent of the national cancer research spending.

Less than 20 percent of brain cancer patients survive more than five years, compared to 87 percent for breast cancer and 98 percent for testicular cancer.