A daily aspirin could prevent bowel cancer or slow down its progression, a study claims. Scientists found that patients with heart disease who were taking low doses of aspirin also had a reduced risk of colorectal cancer (CRC).

An analysis of 10 case–control studies with more than 8,000 colorectal cancer (CRC) cases showed that taking aspirin was associated with a 29 per cent reduction in the incidence of colon or bowel cancer. A further meta-analysis of four randomised controlled trials with more than 14,000 CRC patients found that taking a low or high dose single tablet daily for five or more years reduced the long-term risk of CRC by 24 per cent.

And a recent analysis of 27 studies with more than 230,000 CRC patients showed that aspirin use after diagnosis was associated with an improvement in CRC-specific survival. It is the third most common form of cancer with around 1.9 million newly diagnosed cases and 900,000 deaths every year.

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In the UK there are around 43,000 cases a year with nearly 17,000 deaths. Only 53 per cent of sufferers survive more than 10 years. The team from Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich set out to find how the drug worked against bowel cancer.

They discovered that aspirin induces the production of two tumor-suppressive microRNA molecules (miRNAs) called miR-34a and miR-34b/c. Heiko Hermeking, Professor of Experimental and Molecular Pathology at LMU, said: "Colonoscopy-based screening strategies have demonstrated their potential for decreasing the incidence and mortality of CRC.

"Another strategy to reduce CRC occurrence is the use of chemo-preventive drugs. Among them, aspirin is perhaps the most promising substance. CRC patients treated with a daily low-dose aspirin are less likely to develop advanced stage CRC, suggesting that aspirin affects the progression of established CRCs.

"We challenge the notion that aspirin prevents cancer through a single, dominant pathway and propose an integrative multi-pathway model for its mode of action, with miR-34a and miR-34b/c representing important effectors. Aspirin could therefore be employed therapeutically in such cases in the future."