Researchers have made a major breakthrough in the study of aspirin and how it offers protection against cancer.
It has long been known that aspirin offers protection against the disease but now teams of scientists based in Australia, Canada and Scotland have isolated the specific cancer-fighting compound it contains.
The research has succeeded in isolating salicylate as the key cancer-fighting component. The compound is produced after the drug is broken down by the body for digestion.
A significant element of the discovery is that it appears to offer protection against cancer but eliminates the potentially deadly side effect of aspirin that it can cause stomach bleeding in the most susceptible patients.
The news is causing huge excitement as it follows a recent study by Oxford scientists who found that taking a daily low-dose aspirin for five years cut cancer death risk by 37 per cent.
One of the joint leaders of the study is Professor Grahame Hardie from the University of Dundee . His team applied salicylate to cultured human kidney cells and discovered it activates an enzyme called AMPK. This body breaks down fat and plays a role in cancer and diabetes. From this it was realised it was salicylate and not aspirin activates the cancer-preventing enzyme.
Professor Hardie, said: 'Aspirin has many beneficial effects but, despite it being used in humans for over 100 years, we are still finding out how they come about.'
Another team at McMaster University, led by Dr Greg Steinberg, then tested salicylate on mice and discovered it increased fat burning and reduced liver fat in obese mice with the AMPK enzyme but not in those without.
This could pave the way for cancer drugs with fewer side-effects. KLT will be some time before it could become available for treatment. Aspirin is derived from plants and has been used as a drug for thousands of years. A few years ago it was linked to preventing heart attacks and strokes in high-risk patients.
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