Finding suggests that aspirin may play a role in reducing mortality from breast cancer -
The researchers found that women who were prescribed regularly of aspirin before being diagnosed with breast cancer are less likely to have cancer that spreads to the lymph nodes than women not on aspirin prescription. These women are also less likely die of their breast cancer.
The study of Irish patients funded by the Irish Health Research Board and Irish Cancer Society and published by the American Association for Cancer Research in the Journal Cancer Research , analyzes the records from the National Cancer Registry Ireland (NCRI), and prescription data from general medical services (GMS) pharmacy claims database.
"Our results suggest that aspirin may play a role in reducing mortality from breast cancer by preventing the spread of cancer to nearby lymph nodes," said Dr. Ian Barron, the lead author who conducted the research at Trinity College Dublin, and works in the Johns Hopkins University, USA.
"We analyzed data from 2,796 women with breast cancer stage I-III. We found that women prescribed aspirin in the years immediately before their breast cancer diagnosis were statistically significantly less likely to develop a breast cancer * positive lymph nodes than non-users. The association was stronger among women prescribed aspirin regularly and women prescribed higher doses of aspirin. We now need to establish how and why this is the case. "
The results are consistent with two other major studies. The first is an analysis of cardiovascular trials where aspirin use pre- diagnosis was associated with a statistically significant reduction in risk of developing metastases and of dying from cancer.
the second is an observation from in vivo models of breast cancer, suggesting a possible mechanism by which aspirin may reduce the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the. body
Professor Kathleen Bennett, co-author of the Department of pharmacology and therapeutics, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin said: "Our study was observational and these results do not mean that women should begin taking aspirin as a precaution aspirin can have serious side effects.. We still need to identify exactly how aspirin can prevent breast cancer from spreading to the lymph nodes; including women, or the types of breast cancer are most likely to benefit from taking aspirin; and that the optimal dose may be. . Research to help answer the following questions is funded by the Irish Cancer Society as part of its first National Cancer Center Research Collaborative, BREAST-Predict "
Dr Graham Love, Executive Director of the Research Council Irish health said: "These results have great potential to help improve our understanding of how to increase the Irish and global survival rate of breast cancer."
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