BBC News: Aspirin 'might boost cancer therapy'

This headline recently appeared on the BBC news, with a number of other newspapers reporting on the same story. The report was about a study in mice by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute. The scientists looked at drugs known as Cox-inhibitors (aspirin is a type of Cox-inhibitor). Their results suggested that using these drugs alongside cancer treatments that are designed to allow the body’s own immune system to attack the cancer may make the treatment more effective. Since this was a study in mice, further research will be needed before it is known whether or not this will be a useful approach in treating people with cancer and which people it might help. The study was published in the journal Cell.

In the Add-Aspirin trial, participants will take aspirin (or a placebo) after initial treatment for cancer for a period of at least 5 years. Aspirin may work in different ways. In the trial, we are mainly trying to find out if aspirin can stop cancers spreading or coming back after initial treatment. The cancer treatments that participants will have received before joining the trial are not the same as those studied in this recent report (as these treatments are not currently used for the types of cancer being studied in the Add-Aspirin trial). We do not believe that this new information affects the rationale for the trial, but it may help us to better understand how aspirin may work against cancer.