Study reveals role of aspirin in the development and progression of colon cancer

Study reveals role of aspirin in the development and progression of colon cancer

Long-term daily use of aspirin may help prevent the development and progression of colorectal cancer, but the mechanisms involved are unclear. New research has shown that aspirin may exert this protective effect by boosting certain aspects of the body's immune response against cancer cells. The results are published online by WileyCANCERa peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

To study the effects of aspirin (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) on ​​colorectal cancer, researchers in Italy collected tissue samples from 238 patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer in 2015-2019, 12% of whom were aspirin users. Patients were enrolled in the METACCRE section of the IMMUNological Microenvironment of the Multicenter Observational Study for the Treatment of Rectal Adenocarcinoma (IMMUNOREACT 8). The study was funded by the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) and was conducted primarily at the University Hospital of Padua.

Compared to tissue samples from patients who did not take aspirin, samples from aspirin users showed less cancer spread to lymph nodes and greater infiltration of immune cells into tumors. In analyzes of colon cancer cells in the laboratory, exposing the cells to aspirin resulted in increased expression of a protein called CD80 on certain immune cells, which increased the cells' ability to alert other immune cells to the presence of tumor-associated proteins. In support of this finding, the researchers found that aspirin users in patients with rectal cancer had higher CD80 expression in healthy rectal tissue, suggesting an immune-boosting surveillance effect of aspirin.

“Our study demonstrates a complementary mechanism of cancer prevention or therapy with aspirin alongside its classic drug mechanism that involves inhibition of inflammation,” said lead researcher Marco Scarpa, MD, PhD, of the University of Padua. "Aspirin is absorbed to a significant extent in the colon by passive diffusion. Its absorption is linear and depends on the concentration in the intestine, and in the rectum the concentration of orally administered aspirin can be much lower than in the rest of the colon." “So if we want to harness its effect against colorectal cancer, we should think about how we can ensure that aspirin reaches the intestinal tract in sufficient doses to be effective.”

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