Aspirin ups colon cancer lifespan in some

Taking an aspirin can increase the life of colorectal cancer patients whose tumors carry a mutation, U.S. researchers say. Dr. Xiaoyun Liao of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and colleagues analyzed data on 964 patients with rectal or colon cancer from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, including data on aspirin use after diagnosis and the presence or absence of PIK3CA mutation. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found regular use of aspirin after diagnosis was associated with longer survival among patients with mutated-PIK3CA colorectal cancer -- 97 percent of those taking aspirin were still alive, compared with 74 percent of those not using aspirin. However, aspirin did not appear to have an impact among patients with wild-type PIK3CA colon cancer, the researchers said. The findings from this molecular pathological epidemiology study suggested the PIK3CA mutation in colorectal cancer may serve as a predictive molecular biomarker for aspirin therapy, the study said.