Posted on 03/14/2025 7:03:23 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Scientists have uncovered the mechanism behind how aspirin could reduce the metastasis of some cancers by stimulating the immune system.
Studies of people with cancer have previously observed that those taking daily low-dose aspirin have a reduction in the spread of some cancers.
The scientists say their discovery of how aspirin reduces cancer metastasis was serendipitous.
They were investigating the process of metastasis, because, while cancer starts out in one location, 90% of cancer deaths occur when cancer spreads to other parts of the body.
They found that mice lacking a gene which produces a protein called ARHGEF1 had less metastasis of various primary cancers to the lungs and liver.
The researchers determined that ARHGEF1 suppresses a type of immune cell called a T cell, which can recognize and kill metastatic cancer cells.
To develop treatments to take advantage of this discovery, they needed to find a way for drugs to target it. The scientists traced signals in the cell to determine that ARHGEF1 is switched on when T cells are exposed to a clotting factor called thromboxane A2 (TXA2).
This was an unexpected revelation for the scientists, because TXA2 is already well-known and linked to how aspirin works.
TXA2 is produced by platelets—a cell in the blood stream that helps blood clot, preventing wounds from bleeding, but occasionally causing heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin reduces the production of TXA2, leading to the anti-clotting effects which underlie its ability to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
This new research found that aspirin prevents cancers from spreading by decreasing TXA2 and releasing T cells from suppression. They used a mouse model of melanoma to show that in mice given aspirin, the frequency of metastases was reduced compared to control mice, and this was dependent on releasing T cells from suppression by TXA2.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Thanks for posting
Aspirin GOOD, again. :-)
Serendipitous, my backside.
I just found a number of scholarly articles dating back 15 years that have suggested the same thing.
Aspirin is cheap, isn’t it...
EXACTLY!!!
On average I take 2x325mg every day or every 2 days
Good news! thanks for posting.
Do you need so much aspirin for existing risk factors? I take low dose 80mg pills 44 days in a week.
But I my humble opinion, the real reason I never had a heart attack or stroke nearing age 85 is 25 minute mild aerobic exercise every day. That exercise even helps my bone on bone knees behave without pain.
Typo correction
4 days / week.
Too late for too many... I pop an aspirin every week... Just for the heck of it. Aspirin is a wonder drug.
Aspirin a day thing
Used to get 500mg but use the smaller 325
I can get allergy headaches 🤕 spring fall
Cheap blood thinner generally for daily routine
It seems like every day more good news comes out about aspirin, which dates to 1897.
On my Eliquis, they say I have to avoid NSAIDs. In the back of my mind I wonder if aspirin works be as effective as the Eliquis.
If aspirin had been discovered 20 years ago we’d be paying a hundred dollars a pill....
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