Overweight or obese men with prostate cancer may benefit from two surprising medications. These old drugs are well known, but not for treating prostate cancer.
Old Drugs:
Aspirin was introduced as a pain reliever at the end of the 19th century and has been popular ever since. Metformin, derived from the French lilac plant, has been prescribed for patients with type 2 diabetes since 1958. (The botanical medicine Galega officinalis was used to treat the symptoms of diabetes during the 17th century.)
Now, researchers at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey are combining aspirin plus metformin in a clinical trial to determine whether these two drugs can block the development of prostate cancer.
Aspirin Plus Metformin:
Epidemiology has shown that metformin and aspirin each seems to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity. Combining the two might be even more powerful.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms of action of these medicines leads scientists to believe that they may be able to prevent the development or recurrence of prostate cancer. This clinical trial will determine how well the theory translates into human experience.
