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Aspirin Interacts With Epigenetics to Influence Breast Cancer Mortality
Key clinical point: Aspirin may affect breast cancer mortality in women with BRCA1 or PR breast cancer–related genes.
Major finding: Aspirin is associated with increased mortality in women with methylation of the tumor BRCA1 promoter.
Study details: Cohort study in 1,508 women with a first diagnosis of primary breast cancer.
Disclosures: The study was partly supported by the National Institutes of Health. One author declared personal fees from the private sector outside the submitted work.
Citation:
Wang T et al. Cancer. 2019 Aug 12. doi: 10.1002/cncr.32364.
This study offers new insights into the intersection of epigenetics, prediagnosis aspirin use, and breast cancer survival at a time when there is an urgent need to understand why some women respond differently to treatment and to find cost-effective therapies for the disease.
Epigenetics is a promising avenue of investigation because epigenetic shifts, such as DNA methylation, that impact the genes responsible for cell behavior and DNA damage and repair are known to contribute to and exacerbate cancer. These epigenetic signatures could act as biomarkers for risk in cancer and also aid with more effective treatment approaches. For example, aspirin is known to affect DNA methylation at certain sites in colon cancer, hence this study’s hypothesis that pre–cancer diagnosis aspirin use would interact with epigenetic signatures and influence breast cancer outcomes.
Kristen M. C. Malecki, PhD, is from the department of population health sciences in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The comments are adapted from an accompanying editorial (Cancer. 2019 Aug 12. doi: 10.1002/cncr.32365). Dr. Malecki declared support from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Breast Cancer, and the Environment Research Program.