Aspirin may be able to boost the effectiveness of cutting-edge cancer medicines that bolster the immune system, scientists say.<\/p>\n
Immunotherapy lets the body’s own defences fight cancer and has been a source of huge excitement in the field.<\/p>\n
And now scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have published a study suggesting aspirin may prevent tumours from hiding from the immune system.<\/p>\n
Cancer Research UK said it could be a simple way of improving treatment.<\/p>\n
The team showed that skin, breast and bowel cancer cells were producing high levels of a chemical, called prostaglandin E2, that could dampen down the immune response – effectively letting a tumour hide.<\/p>\n
However, drugs like aspirin are able to change the chemical pathways inside the cancer cells that lead to prostaglandin E2 being produced.<\/p>\n
Experiments in mice, published in the journal Cell, suggest such drugs can boost immunotherapy treatment.<\/p>\n
But Prof Caetano Reis e Sousa, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website: “We are very far off patients, all this is preclinical research in mouse models, what we would like to do now is set up a clinical trial to formally demonstrate this could happen in humans.”<\/p>\n
‘Extremely excited’<\/p>\n
Immunotherapy is one of the most promising fields in cancer research, with some trials showing terminal cancers can be shrunk and even disappear completely in rare cases.<\/p>\n
Prof Reis e Sousa added: “The findings are exciting in the context of renewed interest in immunotherapy, really everyone in oncology and immunology has become extremely excited.<\/p>\n
“But what we’re finding is not a revolution, it’s an evolution [that could help us] try to achieve an even greater rate of remission.”<\/p>\n
There have been previous suggestions that aspirin can prevent cancers forming in the first place.<\/p>\n
And Prof Reis e Sousa said it was possible that aspirin was also preventing cancers forming by acting on the immune system, but that was still untested.<\/p>\n
Prof Peter Johnson, from Cancer Research UK, said: “This research was carried out in mice, so there is still some way to go.<\/p>\n
“But it’s an exciting finding that could offer a simple way to dramatically improve the response to treatment in a range of cancers.”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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