Study Reveals How Common Painkillers Fight Cancer

Accoring to Libermann, the finding unravels the mystery of how NSAIDs fight malignancy.

Not everyone is convinced, however. Dr. Michael Thun, head of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society, called the study "interesting" but noted that the work focused on tumor cells -- not the pre-malignant cells, such as those found in colon polyps, that have shown to be most inhibited by NSAIDs. "That's one issue that needs to be looked at further," he said.

Thun also noted that the doses used in Libermann's study far exceed those of everyday NSAID use in the general population.

Both scientists agreed that it is premature to recommend that people at higher risk for cancer take NSAIDs.

"All of the studies done so far were done only in cell cultures and animal models," Libermann stressed. "Nothing's been done in patients yet -- maybe patients would need 100 times more of the drug to get any real effect. And that would have such terrible side effects that it wouldn't work."

Thun agreed. "At this point, there is no health organization that recommends taking aspirin or related drugs to prevent any cancer," he said. The expert added that while aspirin's safety profile remains uncontroversial, "taking aspirin-like drugs [such as Celebrex or Aleve] for prevention has been pretty much ruled out because of heart risk."

But Libermann believes researchers will now start working on refining NSAIDs to provide maximum anti-cancer benefit with minimum risk. "We can take some of these anti-inflammatory drugs and make them more specific to inducing this cytokine in a very potent way -- without some of the side effects that anti-inflammatory drugs can have," he said.

Measuring blood levels of MDA-7/IL-24 might also allow doctors to someday "tailor treatment and monitor how effective a particular drug is," Libermann said. "Because every patient will respond differently."

More information

There's more on NSAIDs and colon cancer at the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: Towia Libermann, Ph.D., director, Genomics Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Michael Thun, M.D., head, epidemiological research, American Cancer Society; Dec. 15, 2006,Cancer Research