Wonder drug helps fight against cancer

LONDON - Aspirin, one of the only medicines to deserve the title wonder drug, has gained another potential plaudit.

Researchers at Hammersmith Hospital in London say it may help to prevent prostate cancer, the fourth highest cause of cancer deaths in Britain, after laboratory findings showed aspirin suppresses a protein which causes the disease to spread.

Prostate cancer kills almost 10,000 men a year and its incidence is rising.

The research, published in the British Journal of Urology, shows that prostate cancer cells produce four times as much of the protein COX2, which is known to cause cancer to spread, as normal cells.

The findings were described as really encouraging by Lord Winston, the fertility pioneer and director of research and development at the hospital. "It appears that aspirin-like drugs could provide the key to future treatments for this condition."

Aspirin, well-known as a preventive treatment against heart attacks for people with angina (chest pain), is now winning increasing scientific backing for its role against cancer.

A US study of 90,000 nurses shows that it may protect against bowel cancer, and other studies suggest a protective effect against lung and oesophageal cancer.

Further studies have shown aspirin can prevent pre-eclampsia, a complication of pregnancy, and it is an established treatment for preventing blindness in diabetics, heart disease and disorders of the peripheral circulation associated with impaired blood flow.

There is also some evidence that aspirin, which thins the blood, may help to prevent dementia caused by impaired blood flow in the brain and protect against Alzheimer's disease.

And its role in preventing blood clots in long-distance air travellers will be outlined to a conference in Dublin in November.

On cancer, new research has suggested that aspirin's protective effect may be linked with its anti-inflammatory action.

Professor Angus Dalgleish, of St George's Hospital in London, has suggested that the spread of cancer is linked with the failure of the body's immune system triggered by long-term inflammation caused by toxic agents in food and air.

Regular use of an anti-inflammatory such as aspirin may boost the immune response, providing protection against cancer.

The theory is to be discussed by the European Aspirin Foundation in November. It is based on observations that levels of Th1-type (thymus derived helper cell) immunity are unusually low in bowel cancer patients, which Professor Dalgleish attributes to inflammatory disease being tackled by the immune system.

- INDEPENDENT