Aspirin Can Prevent Cancer from Spreading, Research Suggests How

Aspirin and other common over-the-top medications can prevent certain cancers from spreading and new research suggests how.

The medications slip into the lymphatic system, a connected system of nodes within your body that assists with immunity, and shuts down its ability to spread cancer cells.

The lymphatic system is known for its ability to spread cancer cells from tumors in a process known as metastasis, which causes new tumors to form.

Anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin shrank the lymph pathways that cancer cells spread through and thereby inhibited the growth of secondary tumors, according to research headed by a team at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

The journal Cancer Cell published the results Tuesday.

A group of drugs reverse the widening of the supply line and make it hard for the tumor to spread -- at the end of the day that's what kills people, Tara Karnezis co-lead author and researcher at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, told Newscore.

This discovery unlocks a range of potentially powerful new therapies to target this pathway in lymphatic vessels, effectively tightening a tumor's supply lines and restricting the transport of cancer cells to the rest of the body, she added.