An Aspirin A DAy: Keeps Breast Cancer Away?

Filed in archive Cancer , Studies , Women's Health on May 1, 2008

© +lyn


Daily intake of aspirin may lower women's risk of developing estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers only and not in other types.

Around 75% of breast cancers are estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), which means the cancer cells have receptors for the female hormone estrogen on their surface. Estrogen helps the cancer cells grow, so drugs that block the action of estrogen are often used to treat ER+ cancer.

Such were the study results published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research.

It is feasible, in theory, that aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could lower the total risk of breast cancer. They block an enzyme called cyclooxygenase, an activity that could disrupt breast cancer development in a number of ways - for example, by reducing the amount of estrogen produced in the body.

Unlike other NSAIDs, aspirin has irreversible effects on cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, so the study authors looked for differences in cancer development according to whether women used aspirin or another kind of NSAID.

"In summary, our results do not support an important influence of NSAIDs on total breast cancer risk. Daily aspirin use, however, appeared to offer some protection for ER+ breast cancer in this population ... Our results provide support for further evaluating relationships in prospective studies with well-defined measures of NSAID use by NSAID type ... and by ER status."

But if 75% of all breast cancers are ER+, then aspirin has brought potentially good news already.

Source: EurekAlert