Can Aspirin Help Prevent Pancreatic Cancer?

A study in America comparing pancreatic cancer incidence in people who did and did not take high-dose aspirin found a lower risk among regular high-dose aspirin users.

Pancreatic cancer is a serious cancer with unfavorable outcomes. Preventing the disease from developing is therefore the highest priority. Prevention first requires eliminating risk factors that contribute to its development. Smoking, for example, causes 30% of pancreatic cancers. Quitting if you smoke, and never starting if you do not, is extremely important for preventing not only pancreatic cancer but many other cancerous and noncancerous diseases. Weight control and healthy eating habits are also known to help reduce pancreatic cancer risk. However, more tools are needed to prevent a disease with such unfavorable outcomes.

Aspirin works by inhibiting enzymes called cyclooxygenases (COX). Low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg) inhibits COX-1 enzymes to thin the blood and prevent clotting, while high-dose aspirin inhibits COX-2 enzymes and reduces inflammation. COX-2 enzymes are also thought to contribute to cancer development, and their inhibition may help prevent certain cancers. Aspirin's inhibition of COX-2 at high doses supports the idea that it could have this effect. Studies also show that COX-2 enzymes affect cancerous pancreatic cells. High-dose aspirin is therefore thought potentially to reduce pancreatic cancer risk. This study investigated whether it has such an effect.

The study compiled and analyzed data from 10 separate studies published on this topic in recent years, involving 7252 people with pancreatic cancer and more than 120 thousand healthy individuals. Comparing pancreatic cancer incidence among those who did and did not use high-dose aspirin, the researchers found a lower risk among regular high-dose users. However, it should be remembered that certain side effects are also more common in aspirin users.

In conclusion, clinical studies show that aspirin helps prevent many cancers. However, it is not clear which cancer types benefit, which do not, which doses produce stronger effects, or how favorable the benefits are compared with possible side effects. More studies are therefore needed before starting or recommending aspirin to patients to help prevent cancer.