A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) has discovered, in mice experiments, the mechanism by which aspirin could avoid metastasis in some types of cancer.
The authors of the research, collected this Wednesday in the journal Nature, warn that their finding will support the current clinical trials to analyze the effectiveness of aspirin to prevent the propagation of cancer in humans, but in no case does it mean that a person with cancer should take this drug without medical prescription.
In people, the use of aspirin can have serious side effects, since it can alter stomach lining and increase the risk of intestinal bleeding.
In the case of experiments with mice carried out for this study, the finding that aspirin can avoid cancer expansion was “fruit of chance” when the authors tried to better understand how the immune system responds to metastases.
The researchers analyzed 810 genes in mice and discovered that 15 of them influenced cancer metastasis. Specifically, they saw that the mice that lacked a gene that produces the arhgef1 protein suffered less metastases from primary cancers to the lungs and liver.
The explanation is that the ARHGEF1 protein suppresses the immune cells T, which effectively recognize and eliminate metastatic cancer cells.
Next, the scientists saw that the ARHGEF1 protein is activated when T cells are exposed to a coagulation factor called thromboxan A2 (Txa2), well known since it is related to how aspirin works.
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The TXA2 is produced by platelets, blood torrent cells that help blood clotting, preventing wounds from bleeding, but being able to promptly cause myocardial infarctions and strokes. When recipienting the production of TXA2, aspirin causes the anticoagulant effects that prevent these diseases.
In this study, the authors have used a melanoma model in mouse to demonstrate that metastasis was reduced in the rodent group to which aspirin was administered in front of those who did not receive it.
“Aspirin prevented cancers from spreading in mice by decreasing TXA2 and releasing the T cells from their suppression,” says one of the authors, Rahul Roychoudhuri, a researcher at the University of Cambridge in a statement from the center.
“It was exciting to discover that TXA2 was the molecular signal that activated this suppressor effect on T cells against metastasis. Aspirin or other drugs that use this mechanism are less expensive than antibody -based therapies and, therefore, more accessible worldwide, ”adds another of the authors, Jie Yang, from the same university.
But does this study imply that cancer patients should take a low dose of aspirin daily to prevent cancer propagation? The response according to the biologist and oncologist at Reading University, Harvey Roweth, is clearly “No”, according to a reaction collected by Science Media Center.
“This study with mice implies that we must continue to evaluate the role of aspirin in human metastatic cancer. Previous clinical studies on this subject have been contradictory already often conclusive. There are even some reports that conclude that aspirin can do more bad than good, ”says Roweth.
“We are facing an interesting finding. The discovered mechanism can help design better and more specific drugs against metastasis, without the harmful side effects of aspirin, ”says Alan Melcher, professor of immunotherapy at the London Oncological Research Institute.
In addition to the limitation of having done with mice, this study has focused only on a few types of cancer (breast, intestine and prostate) and only in the lung and liver as metastatic locations.
With EFE information.
