Australian Study Suggests Aspirin Can Block Cancer Cells from Spreading

By Erik Pineda | February 15, 2012 6:23 PM EST

Doctors have been prescribing the therapeutic use of aspirin to keep heart attacks and strokes at bay but a new study by Australian scientists now suggests that the drug could also serve as the human body's firewall against cancer cells.

Doctors have been prescribing the therapeutic use of aspirin to keep heart attacks and strokes at bay but a new study by Australian scientists now suggests that the drug could also serve as the human body's firewall against cancer cells.

And the first two functions, Stacker said, can be performed by drugs we regularly store in our homes, chief among them aspirin.

Result of the experiments conducted by the Melbourne-based scientists, which was recently published by the Cancer Cell Journal, showed that "molecules like the aspirin could effectively work by reducing the dilation of these major vessels and thereby reducing the capacity of tumours to spread to distant sites."

Stacker told Agence France Presse (AFP) that their study provided a clearer picture on the role of lymphatic vessels, how this 'internal highways' within the human body play their crucial function in spreading or blocking cancer cells.

Specifically, Stacker revealed that his team's investigation on lymphatic vessel cells introduced them to a specific gene that appears to behave differently when cancer cells infect other parts of the body or when they remain stationary in one location.

This gene, the Australian research team said, seems in control when the vessels allow the passage of deadly cells or when it restricts elements to flow by.

Stacker said that cancer cells reach other body parts when vessels are dilated or wide-open but aspirin appears to be triggering the switch for the gene to shut off and keep the cells from flowing through the human body.

In effect, tumours growth will be limited or then could even die down if the cells fuelling their development could be prevented from reaching them.

That exactly was his team had observed, Stacker said, adding that "it seems like we have found a pivotal junction point in a biochemical sense between all these different contributors."

His team's findings, Stacker noted, could lead to the development of drugs that would effectively limit the growth of tumours, which should give doctors more room to deal with specific cases of cancer.

Apart from Science gaining a more effective tool in curing cancer patients, Stacker's team is optimistic that their discovery could aid doctors into the early discovery of cancer cases and deal with tumours at a stage in which they're easier to defeat.

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Australian Study Suggests Aspirin Can Block Cancer Cells from Spreading