By Akanksha Arora
Copyright timesnownews
Okay think about it: You are popping a very common pill very frequently as a remedy for headache or to treat some other condition. And all this while, the same pill is working to cut the risk of colon cancer recurrence by half. Yes, this is what a new study has revealed. Swedish researchers have discovered that daily dose of aspirin can drastically reduce the risk of some colorectal cancers returning after surgery. The development came after a major trial which analysed the protective effects of the everyday painkiller. As per the researchers, for people whose tumors carry specific mutations in the PI3K signaling pathway, taking Aspirin daily in extremely low dosage after surgery can lead to better outcomes. Findings Of The StudyA clinical trial called ALASCCA, which has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, shows that patients with colorectal cancer, who have specific mutations in the PI3K signalling pathway, can reduce their risk of cancer recurrence by about 55% if they consume 160 mg of aspirin daily for 3 years after surgery. The trial included 3,508 patients who had undergone surgery for colon cancer across 33 hospitals in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Genetic testing was done on all tumours to identify mutations in the PI3K signalling pathway. It was then found out that roughly 37-40% patients were found to have such mutations. Among these, participants were divided: received 160 mg of aspirin daily and the other received a placebo. This continued for three years and it was then concluded that aspirin reduced recurrence dramatically. Dr Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, while speaking to Guardian Health said, “Preventing cancer cases saves lives, and finding new ways to do this is key to our efforts to beat cancer. There is increasing evidence that in certain groups of people, low-dose aspirin can offer protection from bowel cancer.” “The Cancer Research UK-funded CaPP3 trial showed a similar effect in people living with Lynch Syndrome, an inherited condition that increases the risk of bowel and other cancer types,” she said further. Catherine also emphasised on how we need larger, high-quality studies like CaPP3 and this recent research to confirm who would most benefit from taking aspirin to help them live longer.
