Anoikis is a form of cell death that occurs when cells break free of the extracellular matrix and wander off.
For cancer cells to become metastatic, they must develop resistance to anoikis. In the current study, which looked at breast cancer metastasis to lungs, aspirin restored anoikis sensitivity by targeting thromboxane A2.
Thromboxane A2 is produced by activated platelets - aspirin inhibits platelet activation. Aspirin, as a COX-1 inhibitor, interferes with the inflammatory pathway that leads to thromboxane A2 production.
A PCa paper from Spain in April [2] reported that ADT increases thromboxane A2 (TXA2) levels:
"ADT increased, along with other inflammatory/oxidative markers, the serum levels of TXA2. The fact that TXA2 negatively impacts the vascular function of the aorta of healthy male rats suggests that inhibition of TXA2-mediated events could be considered a potential strategy to protect the cardiovascular system."
Until now, I have resisted use of low-dose aspirin, but I may change my mind before the year is out.
Low dose aspirin inhibits TXA2 and platelet function for the life of the platelet, which is 7 days. So ASA taken just 2-3 times per week are sufficient, if you seek a middle path.
I read a study 3-4 years ago and showed it to my cardiologist. It shows that people who took 81mg aspirin every third day, resulted in longer life than those who took it every 1-2 days or 4-5 days. The cardiologist said they prefer it daily, for it's medicinal protection, or something to that effect. That response seemed typical to me of most doctors - more is better mindset. They also don't trust the average person to stick to a once every three-day schedule. I've been taking mine every 1-3 days, but I never go more than three days. Aspirin every third day allows enough of an effect on the heart and body (not much below daily usage) but has less toxicity than daily usage.
Thanks for this very interesting information, pjoshea 13 and a very happy new year for all of you ! Another great benefit from taking aspirine was described here :
No heart problems here! When doing live O2 sessions often had my rate up to 160 which was maxed out for my age. The aspirin--it is all about keeping certain cells from starting a "community"!
The only cardio concern I have is a possible aortic aneurysm from the Cipro and Levaquin which trashed my shoulders and a SI ligament in my back which were old, long forgotten injuries came back with a vengeance! It was bad enough when these injuries originally happened in the 80's but to have them all at the same time? I wasn't doing much of anything. The Cipro pills and the, as the nurse described it, a massive, intramuscular shot of Levaquin combined. Even at that time with the warnings about the fluoroquinolones and the doctor combined them? Makes me think!
Since an aneurysm hasn't surfaced and especially with some of ways I have pushed myself, covered with sweat in 90 plus degree weather with an uncomfortable humidity, I might be okay.
At the same time this doctor was fluoroquinoloning me up another member's doctor told his nurse that because the patient is an athlete no fluoros, use Cefdinir. Rocephin is a substitute for the fluoros too.
sorry for the slow response Currumpaw. I missed your reply but saw it accidentally today while doing more research on aspirin. My Mom has fibrin and scar tissue in her lungs. One doctor suggests 81 mg aspirin, the other does not. I recommend she take one Natto-Serra per day and talk to her cardiologist about 81 mg every third day. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/111....
I remember all of our Levaquin messages to each other in 2020. I've improved a lot since then, but it really damaged me bad for at least a year. Not as bad as you had it though. My two cardiologists both think that if I was going to get the aneurysm then it would have happened within the first year. That's probably true in most people, but not all.
The idea that its ok to give to everyone except athletes is absurd. They are butchers. Nobody should get it.
Do any studies show that two aspirin a day is better than just one baby aspirin, for our cancer growth?
In the following article the authors write: "Aspirin inhibits platelet activation by irreversibly acetylating platelet COX-1 with daily low-dose aspirin (eg, the 81 mg per day dose typically used for cardiovascular disease prevention) having similar antiplatelet effects as higher doses. Inhibition of platelet activation could in turn inhibit the development of metastases. "
The second review reports an effect because it determined a hazard ratio of 0.86 while the third review found no effect because the hazard ratio was 0.88. So this is close I think.
Been taking aspirin for at least 30 years when our flight surgeon starting taking it. Had a triple bypass, but sure it helped and still take it as my cardio says I must. Now a bonus.
I've been taking it for many years to ward off an atrial fibrillation triggered stroke. I don't like industrial strength blood thinner meds. My cardiologist was fine with this approach.
DoNot listen to people who badmouth poor aspirin 81 mg(baby aspirin)...Its good for heart and also good for Prostate cancer. Remember what is good for heart is aso good for prostate cancer.
Figured you might be interested in the etymology (according to Wikipedia):
"The word "anoikis" was coined by Frisch and Francis in a paper published in the Journal of Cell Biology in 1994.[2] "Anoikis", in their words, means "(…the state of being without a home) to describe the cells' apoptotic response to the absence of cell–matrix interactions". The word apparently is a neologism construction consisting of three Greek morphemes agglutinated together: ἀν- "without", οἰκ- "house", and the suffix -ις. Unfortunately, for a Greek native speaker that does not make sense, because in Greek the state of being without a home is described by the word "αστεγος", pronounced "astegos". Furthermore, "anoikis" is pronounced exactly the same way as the Greek word "ανηκης", which means "you belong", adding to the confusion."
... but it's all Greek to me (someone had to say it). Ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος!
Do you know of any clinical study (RCT) showing that aspirin delays the progression of metastases in any cancer?
Besides possible bleeding long term use of aspirin may affect the kidneys. There are a lot of people taking new oral anticoagulants that may be inclined to add aspirin based in the information provided here.
The NOAC plus aspirin may cause significant bleeding.
I just wonder if anybody has shown in a RCT study that aspirin does help in the control of PC.
I have long been wary of aspirin. Would the FDA approve it today?
I didn't expect to see any studies. Who would fund a long-term aspirin study & would there even be sufficient accrual?
But I came across this short-term metastatic colorectal [MCC] / breast cancer [MBC] study [1] that looked at the impact of aspirin on circulating tumor cells [CTCs]:
"The eligible patients are given 100 mg aspirin q.d. for 8 weeks, and CTCs are evaluated at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks for absolute number, phenotype (epithelial type, E+, mesenchymal type, M+, and biophenotypic type, B+), and vimentin expression."
"Aspirin could decrease CTCs numbers and block EMT transition in MCC patients and part of MBC patients."
. 2018 Jul;20(7):912-921. doi: 10.1007/s12094-017-1806-z. Epub 2017 Dec 14.
The effect of aspirin on circulating tumor cells in metastatic colorectal and breast cancer patients: a phase II trial study
L Yang 1 , Z Lv 2 , W Xia 2 , W Zhang 3 , Y Xin 2 , H Yuan 2 , Y Chen 4 , X Hu 5 , Y Lv 6 , Q Xu 2 , X Weng 7 , C Ni 8 9
Affiliations expand
PMID: 29243075 DOI: 10.1007/s12094-017-1806-z
Abstract
Purpose: Aspirin could reduce the risk of cancer metastasis. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a key factor of cancer metastasis, but no evidence has revealed how aspirin affects CTCs and its epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here, we conducted a clinical trial to investigate how aspirin affects CTCs in metastatic colorectal cancer (MCC) and breast cancer patients (MBC).
Methods: The trial is retrospective registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02602938). The eligible patients are given 100 mg aspirin q.d. for 8 weeks, and CTCs are evaluated at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks for absolute number, phenotype (epithelial type, E+, mesenchymal type, M+, and biophenotypic type, B+), and vimentin expression.
Results: Data on 21 MCC and 19 MBC patients are analyzed, and it revealed that the CTC numbers decreased with aspirin treatment in MCC (p < 0.001) but not MBC (p = 0.0532); besides, ratio of E+ CTCs increased (p = 0.037) and M+ CTCs decreased at 2 months in MCC (p = 0.013), but neither the ratio of E+ or M+ CTCs changes significantly in MBC; vimentin expression of M+ CTCs is higher than E+ and B+ CTCs either in MBC or MCC patients at baseline (p < 0.01); and aspirin suppresses the vimentin expression in M+ (p = 0.002)and B+ (p = 0.006) CTCs of MCC and M+ CTCs of MBC (p = 0.004); besides it find vimentin expression in B+ (p = 0.004) or M+ (p < 0.001), CTCs are markedly decreased in patients with total CTC numbers declined.
Conclusion: Aspirin could decrease CTCs numbers and block EMT transition in MCC patients and part of MBC patients.
Suggest getting a PTT (partial thrombocytosis test) to baseline your coagulation factors before starting aspirin on a regular basis.
“Most people should not take aspirin because the bleeding risks pretty much counterbalance any benefit on heart attack or stroke,” he notes. “And the bleeding can be in the gastrointestinal tract or, even more seriously, bleeding can occur into the brain.”
Hello Patrick, I have been taking 2 x 81 mg enteric coated aspirin for the last 6 years. I was diagnosed in 2016 with >5 metastases. A PSMA scan in 2019 indicated that I had a recurrence in my prostate and one metastasis on the spine. Doctors were expecting a higher metastatic load and recommended against the PSMA scan. I attribute the non increase in metastases to aspirin. There is a new FDA approved product called Vazalore which delivers aspirin more safely according to the manufacturer. It should be noted that the efficacy of aspirin may be affected by SNPs - I happen to need a higher dosage, while others may do well with the standard 81 mg. MateoBeaches comment about the life of a platelet is worth considering with respect to how often aspirin should be taken. Cheers, Phil
Too bad that doctors ignore the connection between cancer, abnormal coagulation & metastasis. Following my double DVT I figured that nattokinase & D-dimer was sufficient protection, & it has been for many years, but I now also take low-dose aspirin on even days.
Thank you for the link to the Mayo Clinic. I was honestly surprised about the possible lower efficacy of enteric coated aspirin. I will go back to grinding the damn pills Cheers, Phil
"SNP genotyping is the measurement of genetic variations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between members of a species. It is a form of genotyping, which is the measurement of more general genetic variation. SNPs are one of the most common types of genetic variation. A SNP is a single base pair mutation at a specific locus, usually consisting of two alleles (where the rare allele frequency is > 1%). SNPs are found to be involved in the etiology of many human diseases and are becoming of particular interest in pharmacogenetics."
How do we test to know what NSP level of aspirin? I don't think it could be discerned through trial and error. Isn't this part of precision medicine, which is still in its infancy?
Interesting: "Also, the gastrointestinal benefit of enteric-coated aspirin is minimal to nonexistent. When it comes to rates of ulceration and bleeding, there’s no difference between enteric-coated and regular aspirin. The risk of ulcers and bleeding probably comes from aspirin’s effects in the bloodstream, rather than from where the drug dissolves and is absorbed."
Is non-enteric 81mg available for purchase? I am not a fan of crushing. It can lead to esophagus damage if it doesnt get into the stomach.
Did a bit more reading and should note, there doesn't appear to be strong evidence low-dose aspirin can prevent recurrence of cancer after primary treatment (I know, I probably playing catch up with you all.) It appears it is only beneficial in the context (as the study Patrick shared shows) of reducing metastases AFTER recurrence.
I find it interesting that the fact ADT increases TXA2 - gee the treatment designed to put the cancer at bay promotes an environment more conducive to metastases?
It is quite interesting that an every third day regimen produces results very close to an every day regimen. Obviously giving your GI tract a rest for two days in between doses must be a good thing.
I wonder though if it would be better to go every other day with half a pill (40 mg) for a more even effect and less dose hit to the stomach at one time? The 40mg every 3 days was interestingly a lot more even. I would have liked to have seen how much of a see saw pattern there would be with a daily graph. I would expect not that much as platlet regeneration is about 10% a day. So there would be only a 30% increase in TX at the time you took your next dose. Still studies have shown 30mg to be effective (daily) so maybe 40 mg every other day is a possible sweet spot as far as reward to risk ratio?
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Cheers, Phil
