Women who regularly take aspirin appear to have a lower risk for hormone receptor positive breast cancer--the most common type of breast cancer-- than those who do not take aspirin, according to a report in a recent issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association. (
www.ama-assn.org)
The study analyzed data from almost 3,000 women (1,442 with breast cancer, 1,420 without) from the Long Island Breast Cancer Project, headed by Marilie Gammon, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that were collected from 1996 to 1997. The investigators found that women who took aspirin regularly had a 26% lower risk of hormone receptor positive breast cancer compared with those who did not take aspirin. The association was strongest in those who took at least seven aspirin tablets per week, and was greater in menopausal women than in their premenopausal counterparts.
The use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been associated with a decreased risk of other cancers, such as colorectal cancer and cancers of the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. NSAIDs inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX) activity and thus reduce prostaglandin synthesis; prostaglandins stimulate aromatase gene expression and thereby stimulate estrogen biosynthesis.
The report’s lead author, Mary Beth Terry, PhD, of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and the co-investigators, Alfred I. Neugut, MD, PhD, of Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health, and Andrew Dannenberg, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College, note that aspirin is commonly used for cardiovascular protection and for arthritis, but may now have an additional benefit in terms of breast cancer prevention. They point to the need for prospective trials to confirm the value of using NSAIDs to prevent breast cancer.
The article, along with a commentary by Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, can be viewed by accessing the journal’s Web site at
www.ama-assn.org.
