Aspirin to help fight skin cancer

COMMON anti-inflammatory drugs could stop skin cancers becoming deadly ulcerated melanomas, Queensland researchers have found.

A study by the Brisbanebased QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute has shown that regular use of some anti-inflammatory painkillers, including aspirin and ibuprofen, reduce the likelihood of melanomas becoming ulcerated and thus worsening survival odds.

Statins, a popular cholesterol-lowering drug, were also found to lower the risk of the condition, with researchers suggesting that this medication might “modify inflammatory mechanisms in the body that cause melanomas to become ulcerated”.

Conversely, the 787-person study found diabetes sufferers were at more risk of developing ulcerated melanomas that occur when the top layer of skin disappears.

Lead researcher Lena von Schuckmann said further studies were needed, but the findings, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, were “really exciting”.

“Potentially, down the track, we can find some causations and potentially find some modifiable risk factors,” she said.

Meanwhile, a University of Queensland study released yesterday found that adding aspirin to some cancer drugs could boost their effectiveness.

The mouse studys howed that mixing the painkiller with Sorafenib, a cancer inhibitor drug, “strongly enhanced its effectiveness” against lung cancer and melanomas with RAS genetic mutations.