Topic: Aspirin dose and ER+ bc??

I read this too, and took away the impression that it was a full dose aspirin, suggesting 325 mg.

Remember to review the pros and cons of aspirin prior to starting regular therapy if you're thinking of it.

This mechanism may be similar to the cox inhibitor mechanism often spoken of in relation to breast cancers, which have cox receptors, or perhaps a prostaglandin regulatory mechanism.

I don't think the report commented on lowering ER+ bc recurrence with aspirin, did it?

Tender

Ok, this report came in today through Breast Cancer Research open access.

http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/10/2/R38/abstract (takes you right to the abstract)
http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/pdf/bcr2089.pdf (takes you to full provisional pdf)

"Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and breast cancer risk in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study"

Researchers teased out aspirin users, separate from NSAID users, in the female AARP population. NSAID's were not found to have any reducing effect in breast cancer in this study.

Daily aspirin use was found in this study to be associated with some reduced ER+ breast cancer risk, felt due to aspirin's inhibition of aromatase enzyme. Authors could not retrospectively comment on minimal effective dose (obvious safety issue): some women used cardiovascular prevention dose of 80 mg per day, others 325 mg, but lower amount could not then be teased further out to see if sufficient.

"the NIH–AARP Diet and Health Study is the one of largest cohorts to date to
have evaluated the association between NSAID type and breast cancer risk by tumor characteristics,
Including ER status. The reduced risk of ER-positive breast cancer we observed with daily aspirin use
is consistent with the mechanism of action of aspirin (but not non-aspirin NSAIDs), which permanently
inactivates COX-2 [29], potentially reducing breast cancer risk via multiple pathways, including
suppression of estrogen synthesis by decreased aromatase activity [28]. In addition, our results are in
agreement with findings from the Long Island Breast Cancer Prevention Project, a population-based
case–control study that reported in 2004 an inverse association with aspirin that was significantly
greater for HR-positive breast cancer than for HR-negative breast cancer [30]. Since then, two case–
control studies [3,31] and three prospective cohort studies [16,17,24] have separately investigated the
association for aspirin, with three of the five studies suggesting some protection against HR-positive
breast cancer with aspirin use" (pdf article).

Allison reminds the potential downside of aspirin: aspirin allergy and potential increased bleeding.

If aspirin was put forth to the FDA today, it would never get approval for over the counter use, imo, due to safety issues. Yet in many ways, a remarkable, often life saving, drug.

Tender

Here is some more info on aspirin and ER+ bc:

Daily Aspirin May Offer Breast Cancer Protection
As Reported by Reuters. 2008 Apr 30

In a large National Cancer Institute study, women who took a daily aspirin had a 16% lower risk of developing the most common form of breast cancer. Aspirin reduced the risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, but it had no effect on the estrogen receptor-negative form of the disease. The findings confirmed those of earlier research also showing a breast cancer benefit from regular aspirin use. The women in the study, who were 51 to 72 years of age, were followed up for 7 years. None had breast cancer when the study began. Aspirin had to be taken daily for the benefit to be apparent. Less-than-daily use did not give the same results. The study is important because, even though the reduction in risk for breast cancer is fairly small, it could have a large public health impact with respect to the actual numbers of women affected. The results were published in the April 30 issue of Breast Cancer Research. In addition to being a well-known painkiller, aspirin has been used to prevent second heart attacks, and, recently, it has been shown to possibly prevent colorectal cancer. Earlier studies in breast cancer did not always distinguish between the 2 receptor types when analyzing the results, so the findings were inconclusive. One theory for why aspirin may affect breast cancer is that it interferes with the actions of estrogen. Women who want to take aspirin for breast cancer protection should confer with their doctor before doing so. Ulcers and bleeding are some of the potential adverse effects of aspirin therapy.