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Pain relievers such as aspirin and ibuprofen improved the survival rate of patients with head and neck cancer with the mutated PIK3CA gene. How do these drugs block tumor growth? ( pixabay )
Taking common and cheap painkillers such as aspirin and ibuprofen can triple the chances of survival for patients with head and neck cancer.
PIK3CA
PIK3CA is the most commonly impaired oncogene in head and neck cancers, with 34% of tumors carrying mutations activating the PIK3CA gene. In human papillomavirus (HPV) related head and neck cancers, PIK3CA is mutated in more than half of all tumors.
In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine On Jan. 25, Jennifer Grandis, of the University of California at San Francisco, and her colleagues involved 266 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the neck and head (HNSCC) whose tumors were removed by surgical way.
The researchers found that in cancer patients with PIK3CA, the regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, for at least six months had improved the five-year overall survival rate from 25 to 78%.
Patients whose gene had not been altered in the tumor did not, however, find any effect after taking painkillers.
NSAIDs
NSAIDs are a clbad of drugs that reduce pain and inflammation. Aspirin and ibuprofen are an example of NSAIDs. Other popular painkillers, such as paracetamol, act through a different process and are not clbadified as NSAIDs.
The researchers believe that NSAIDs probably block tumor growth by reducing the production of the inflammation molecule, prostaglandin E2.
Cancers of the head and neck
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 65,000 people in the United States develop head and neck cancer each year. The disease can affect young people, but most patients are over 50 at the time of diagnosis. Risk factors include alcohol consumption, HPV infection and smoking.
The five-year survival rate is only about 45%.
The results of the new study suggest the potential of NSAID treatment in treating cancer patients with PIK3CA mutations, although further studies are still needed to corroborate the findings.
"These findings reveal a biologically plausible rationale for implementing NSAID therapy in the PIK3CA-modified HNSCC," the researchers wrote in their study.
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