Aspirin Used to Fight Rare Cancer Tumors

Aspirin may help treat a rare form of cancer that causes huge mushroom-shaped tumors to grow out of the body’s hair follicles and sweat glands, scientists said Wednesday.

Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists said that aspirin’s anti-inflammatory properties could help to combat cylindromatosis, an inherited form of skin cancer also known as turban tumor syndrome.People who have the syndrome suffer from inflamed skin tissue that releases a host of molecules that may help to keep cancer cells alive, the scientists said. Aspirin reduces the inflammation and therefore may help to starve the cancer cells.The research is contained in three studies done independently in the Netherlands, Greece and Israel.(Source: New York Times, 14 August 2003, By REUTERS)