Taking a daily dose of aspirin could reduce spread of breast cancer

Common painkiller found to suppress two strains of breast cancer

Taking aspirin could slow the spread of breast cancer, a study has found.

Scientists found the painkiller limits the creation of cells which fuel the disease and reduces tumour growth.

Laboratory tests on mice discovered low doses of the drug suppressed the spread of two different strains of the illness.

One of the strains is responsible for 'triple negative' breast cancer, which is resistant to many treatments and affects up to one in five patients.

The researchers at University of Kansas also found that aspirin boosted the effect of tamoxifen, a widely used treatment for the more common form of the disease.

As well as putting preventing the spread of cancer in the lab, the medicine significantly reduced tumour growths in mice. Earlier observations have suggested a protective effect of aspirin against the recurrence of breast cancer, with women who took aspirin to lower their risk of heart attack or stroke less likely to relapse. 

But the reason behind this effect is not yet understood. The researchers found that the drug may interfere with the generation of highly aggressive stem cells by tumours. In the mouse studies, treated cancer cells produced only partial or no stem cells, which are not destroyed by chemotherapy. Continue reading at:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2312555/Taking-daily-dose-aspirin-reduce-spread-breast-cancer-slowing-creation-cells-fuel-disease.html