WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- Aspirin and inhaled corticosteroids may help prevent cancer from either developing or spreading to the lungs, according to two studies in humans and animals presented this week at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Los Angeles.
Aditya Bardia, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues analyzed data on 22,507 initially cancer-free postmenopausal women who participated in the Iowa Women's Health Study. More than 10 years later, women who regularly took aspirin were 16 percent less likely to develop cancer and 13 percent less likely to die from cancer as women who did not use aspirin.
Anna Taranova, M.D., of Mayo Clinic Arizona in Scottsdale, and colleagues exposed mice to an aerosolized allergen and then injected the mice with melanoma cells. The researchers found that lung metastasis was almost 400 percent higher in mice with allergen-induced pulmonary inflammation but could be reduced with budesonide. Taranova is conducting follow-up research to see if asthmatic breast cancer patients have lower rates of lung metastasis.
"A link between pulmonary inflammation and lung metastasis would not only have significant effects on patient diagnosis and care, but will also immediately affect the way breast cancer patients are treated," Taranova said in a statement. "Those with asthma might be able to reduce their risk of lung metastasis, and increase their survival, with aggressive corticosteroid treatment."
Abstract - Bardia
Abstract - Taranova
