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August 27, 2015
Regular Aspirin Use Linked to Lower Cancer Risk in Overweight Patients

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom—Being overweight or obese has been linked to long-term cancer risk, but a British study suggests that a regular dose of aspirin can mitigate those affects, at least in some people.

The study, published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that being overweight more than doubles the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch Syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder that affects genes responsible for detecting and repairing damage in the DNA. About half of Lynch patients develop cancer, mainly in the bowel and womb.

The study, conducted by researchers at Newcastle University and the University of Leeds, both in the United Kingdom, found, however, that the risk could be counteracted by taking a regular dose of aspirin.

“This is important for people with Lynch Syndrome but affects the rest of us too,” said coauthor Sir John Burn, professor of clinical genetics at Newcastle University who led an international research collaboration. “Lots of people struggle with their weight and this suggests the extra cancer risk can be cancelled by taking an aspirin.”

The randomized controlled trial is part of the CAPP 2 study involving scientists and clinicians from more than 43 medical centers in 16 countries. Nearly 1,000 patients with Lynch Syndrome have been followed over the long term by the researchers.

For the study, 937 participants were randomly assigned to take either two aspirins (600 mg) every day for 2 years or a placebo. Follow-up 10 years later found that 55 had developed bowel cancers and that those who were obese were 2.75 times more likely to develop the cancer.
For patients who were taking two aspirins a day, however, the risk was the same whether they were obese or not.

“For those with Lynch Syndrome, we found that every unit of BMI above what is considered healthy increased the risk of bowel cancer by 7%,” said study leader Professor John Mathers, professor of Human Nutrition at Newcastle University. “What is surprising is that even in people with a genetic predisposition for cancer, obesity is also a driver of the disease. Indeed, the obesity-associated risk was twice as great for people with Lynch Syndrome as for the general population.”

That is especially significant for patients who are unable to lose weight and could be helped by regular aspirin use, Mathers pointed out in a University of Leeds press release.

Professor Tim Bishop, a co-author from the University of Leeds, added, “Our study suggests that the daily aspirin dose of 600 mg per day removed the majority of the increased risk associated with higher BMI. However, this needs to be shown in a further study to confirm the extent of the protective power of the aspirin with respect to BMI.”

“This research adds to the growing body of evidence which links an increased inflammatory process to an increased risk of cancer,” Mathers emphasized. “Obesity increases the inflammatory response. One explanation for our findings is that the aspirin may be suppressing that inflammation which opens up new avenues of research into the cause of cancer.”

Another possibility for aspirin’s beneficial role, according to study authors, is the little recognized effect of aspirin in enhancing programmed cell death.

“We may be seeing a mechanism in humans whereby aspirin is encouraging genetically damaged stem cells to undergo programmed cell death; this would have an impact on cancer,” Mathers explained.




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