A team of scientists at Cambridge University argue that the well -known and cheap painkiller, aspirin, stops the spread of cancer.

Animal experiments showed that the drug enhanced the ability of the immune system to counter.

Cambridge University team said it was a discovery that could eventually lead to prescription drug in cancer patients.

But they clarified that it is still early and people should first consult their doctor.

Normal aspirin is accompanied by risks and tests are still trying to understand which patients are most likely to benefit.

However, researchers argue that analyzes 10 years have shown that those who took aspirin daily were more likely to survive if they had been diagnosed with cancer.

Should I take aspirin for cancer?

The most natural question that one can ask with cancer is whether to take aspirin.

“If you are cancer patient, do not hurry in your local pharmacy to buy aspirin, but actively think of your participation in current or upcoming aspirin tests,” says Professor Mangesh Thorat, surgeon and cancer researcher at Queen Mary University.

He says the study provided “the missing puzzle” to understand the way aspirin works, but there are still questions that need to be answered.

Aspirin can cause internal bleeding, including strokes, so risks must be balanced. It is also not clear whether the result works for all cancers or only for specific.

In some patients – with Lynch syndrome, which increases the risk of cancer – aspirin is already recommended.

However, appropriate clinical trials will still be needed to understand whether more patients will benefit.

Professor Ruth Langley, from the MRC Clinical Testing Unit at University College London, is leading the Add-Saspirin test to determine if aspirin can prevent the re-emergence of cancer at an early stage.

He said the results of the study were “an important discovery”, as they would help to find “who is more likely to benefit aspirin after a diagnosis of cancer”.

However, he warned again of the dangers of taking aspirin by saying “Always talk to your doctor before you start”.

The discovery

The discovery, published in Nature magazine, was accidental as scientists did not research aspirin.

The team in Cambridge investigated how the immune system responded to cancers when they spread.

They used genetically modified mice and found that those who did not have a specific set of genetic instructions were less likely to have metastatic cancer.

Further research revealed how these cells were suppressed

Dr. Jie Yang, who conducted the investigation, said: “It was a moment of Eureka. It was a completely unexpected find that led us to a completely different way of research from the one we expected. “