Research Alert
Aspirin can significantly reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer, and this protection can be the result of changed evolutionary processes of cells within patients, according to mathematical models produced by UCI researchers and partners.
Results from the study were published in eLife Sciences.
Colorectal cancer affects about 5% of the U.S. population and is a major cause of cancer-related deaths. Efforts to prevent the disease are crucial; the long-term use of aspirin, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), has been shown to offer significant levels of protection against colorectal cancer. The mechanisms behind this protective effect, however, are not fully understood. Researchers at UCI responded to this need by launching a study that used mathematical models to interpret changes in tumor cells during aspirin treatment in vitro and in vivo. Their modeling analyses showed that the medication has a direct impact on mutated cells’ ability to divide, survive, and form tumors, a protective effect that can reduce the number of colorectal cases population-wide if implemented widely.
“Our study highlights the importance of interdisciplinary investigations to better understand the protective effect of aspirin seen in epidemiological data, combining evolutionary biology and computational approaches with traditional molecular and experimental approaches”, said Dominik Wodarz, PhD, study co-author and professor of Population Health and Disease Prevention at UCI Public Health.
Study collaborators include Natalia Komarova, PhD, corresponding author and Chancellor’s Professor of Mathematics at UC Irvine; Yifan Wang, PhD, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at UC Irvine; C. Richard Boland, Professor of Medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine; and Ajay Goel, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics and Associate Director of Basic Science at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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