WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CHAVAL BRASIL
Salicylate, the natural compound on which aspirin is based, directly activates a pathway linked to tumor suppression and glucose regulation, which may explain some of aspirin’s long-term health benefits, such as its role in cancer prevention. Published this week (April 19) in Science, the research shows that salicylate directly activates AMP kinase, which regulates a cell’s ATP levels, which in turn promotes fat burning in mice.
“It’s a very important paper” that sheds light on the mechanism of aspirin’s in vivo effects, said Q. Ping Dou, who studies the chemotherapeutic potential of natural products at Wayne State University in Michigan, and was not involved with the study. Salicylate is only the second compound known to directly activate AMP kinase, which regulates energy supplies in the ...
