The link between taking aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, and colorectal cancer prevention is well established, but the mechanisms behind the protective effect have not been understood. A new study, co-led by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests this protection differs according to variations in DNA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve known for a very long time that aspirin, ibuprofen and other NSAIDs are protective for colorectal cancer, but they can\u2019t be used as a preventive agent because of the uncertainty of the risk-benefit ratio \u2013 longtime use can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding and other side effects,\u201d said Ulrike \u201cRiki\u201d Peters, Ph.D., M.P.H., co-senior author of the paper and a cancer prevention researcher in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. \u201cWe wanted to investigate if genetic variation determined who is responding particularly well with aspirin \u2013 for whom aspirin and NSAID use has particular benefit and for whom it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the study, Peters and colleagues \u2013 including co-corresponding author and lead biostatistician Li Hsu, Ph.D., also of Fred Hutch, analyzed data from 10 large population-based studies in North America, Australia and Germany. They compared genetic and lifestyle data from 8,624 people who developed colorectal cancer with that of 8,553 people who did not (both groups were matched by age and gender).<\/p>\n
While regular use of aspirin and NSAIDS was associated with an overall reduced risk of colorectal cancer, the researchers found no such protective effect among about 9 percent of the study participants who had genetic variations on chromosome 15. What\u2019s more, about 4 percent of the participants who carried two even rarer genotypes on chromosome 12 had an increased risk of colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n
Understanding the interplay between such genetic variations and the use of aspirin and NSAIDs, also known as \u201cgene-by-environment interactions,\u201d eventually may help identify those who could benefit most from these medications for cancer prevention as well as those who should steer clear of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hope is that we can find a subgroup of the population where the benefits so outweigh the risks that it makes sense to take aspirin or NSAIDs,\u201d Peters said. \u201cBut we\u2019re not there yet.\u201d\nFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The link between taking aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, and colorectal cancer prevention is well established, but the mechanisms behind the protective effect have not been understood. A new study, co-led by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests this protection differs according to variations in DNA. \u201cWe\u2019ve known for a very long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}