Sunday, March 18, 2012

Hybrid Aspirin as Cancer Destroying Drug

In an unprecedented research study conducted by a team from the City College of New York (CCNY) it appears that the run-of-the-mill medication, aspirin, is the new heavy weight in the on-going fight against cancer.

The report, published in the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, states that the newly created hybrid aspirin not only will have exceptional implications for cancer treatment, but also is significantly safer for people on a daily regimen.

After studying the effects of the aspirin, researchers found that it halted the growth of tumors for 11 different cancers, including cancerous tumors in colon, pancreatic, lung, prostate, breast and leukemia.

Further, the aspirin did not pose any threat or harm to the surrounding healthy issues and cells. For individuals on a daily aspirin regimen for heart or stroke issues, balancing the medication's benefits with the serious side effects can be a dangerous game. Traditional aspirin has been found to damage to the lining of the stomach, kidney problems and aid the development of ulcers.

What makes this new aspirin hybrid different is in its chemical makeup. The dual release of two materials – nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide – protects the stomach and increases aspirin's cancer-fighting ability, respectively.

According to Associate Professor Khosrow Kashfi, one of the study's leading researchers, “The hybrid is more potent – and it is more potent by orders of magnitude – compared to aspirin.”

Named NOSH-aspirin for its two leading components, demonstrated its remarkable cancer-fighting abilities when given to cancer cells. Within 24 hours, the NOSH-aspirin was 100,000 times better at fighting cancer than its traditional form, and after 72 hours, the drug was nearly 250,000 times more potent.

For mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure, and cancers like it, the breakthrough may mean more effective treatment options.

NOSH-aspirin “could be used in conjunction with other drugs to shrink tumors before chemotherapy or surgery,” said Kashfi. For cancers similar to lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma – affecting the lining of the lungs – prescribing NOSH-aspirin before receiving conventional cancer treatments may mean lower risk of harmful side-effects, the reduction of the amount of chemotherapy needed and potentially the complete eradication of tumors.

Though practical applications of the NOSH-aspirin may be years away, the results of the study are encouraging to the medical community.

“We could be looking at a human trial within two years,” said Kashfi.

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