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Tumor strengths and frailties: Aspiring to prevent colon cancer

Nature Medicine volume 18, pages 32–33 (2012)Cite this article

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Cancer of the colon and rectum is common, and, unfortunately, many affected people die from the disease. It is estimated that there will have been 141,210 new cases in the US in 2011. If identified early, colorectal cancer can be cured through surgical resection of the tumor. But, all too often, by the time a colorectal cancer is discovered it has already invaded through the wall of the bowel or metastasized to the liver. Modern approaches that combine surgery and anticancer drugs such as 5-fluouracil, cetuximab, irionotecan and oxaliplatin will cure some of these people and extend the lives of others. Yet in the US in 2011 there will still have been about 50,000 deaths from the disease.

One approach to combat the disease is to detect it before it causes any symptoms by screening approaches that aim to detect precancerous polyps and early cancers. But this process is expensive and has limited effectiveness at a population level. For over twenty years, evidence has been accumulating that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs might provide a way of preventing colorectal cancer1,2. Now, two recent studies in humans have provided compelling evidence that daily aspirin can reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer and dying from the disease.

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Figure 1: Potential mechanisms of action of aspirin to prevent colorectal cancer.

Katie Vicari

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  1. Patrick H. Maxwell is Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London, London, UK.,

    Patrick H Maxwell

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  1. Patrick H Maxwell
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Correspondence to Patrick H Maxwell.

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P.H.M. is a scientific founder and director of ReOx.

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Maxwell, P. Tumor strengths and frailties: Aspiring to prevent colon cancer. Nat Med 18, 32–33 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2637

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