Designer Aspirin Fights Cancer

Early experiments show that a hybrid form of the common pain reliever can effectively inhibit the growth of many tumor types.

Written byBob Grant

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CHAVAL BRASIL

Researchers in New York claim that new type of aspirins can slow the growth of colon, pancreas, breast, lung, and prostate cancers, as well as some types of leukemia. Scientists at the City University of New York Medical School created four new forms of aspirin that release both nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). They report the anti-cancer properties of these so-called NOSH-Aspirins in a paper published online in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters

Though regular aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have shown promise in curtailing tumor growth by knocking back inflammation, they come with nasty side effects such as the risks of gastrointestinal and brain bleeding and liver toxicity. The NOSH-Aspirins tested, on the other hand, did not seem to damage surrounding ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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