New research shows that daily doses of aspirin may reduce the reproductive speed of breast cancer cells.
Scientists from the University of Kansas have discovered that the humble aspirin can inhibit the growth of cancer tumors by limiting the speed at which the cancer cell can reproduce and tests on mice revealed that low doses of aspirin proved highly effective against two different strains of the disease.
One of the strains that appears to be vulnerable to the drug is responsible for 'triple negative' breast cancer—which affects one in five patients and is resistant to many forms of treatment.
The scientists also discovered that aspirin can boost the effectiveness of tamoxifen, which is widely used in the battle against the more common form of cancer.
The results of the research suggest that the reason behind the effectiveness of aspirin may be due to it interfering with ability of the tumors to generate aggressive stem cells.
Head scientist Professor Sushanta Banerjee presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Biochemistry, where he stated 'If you don't target the stemness," it is known you will not get any effect. It will relapse.'
