Aspirin could boost cancer immunotherapy

London, Sep 4: Giving cancer patients aspirin at the same time as immunotherapy could boost the effectiveness of the treatment, says a new study. The researchers found that combining immunotherapy with aspirin or other COX inhibitors substantially slowed bowel and melanoma skin cancer growth in mice, compared to immunotherapy alone. Aspirin, commonly prescribed for pain relief, is part of a group of molecules called COX inhibitors. "Giving patients COX inhibitors like aspirin at the same time as immunotherapy could potentially make a huge difference to the benefit they get from treatment,” said study author Caetano Reis e Sousa from Francis Crick Institute in London. Skin, breast and bowel cancer cells often produce large amounts of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) molecule that dampens down the immune system's normal response to attack faulty cells, which helps cancer to hide. It is a trick that allows the tumour to thrive and may explain why some immunotherapy treatments have not been as effective as hoped.