Indian scientists discover how aspirin can kill cancer cells

By Dr Swati Subodh

Aspirin, used for long as a pain killer as well as for treating stroke owing to its blood thinning properties, may soon find a new application. A group of Indian researchers have figured out exact mechanism by which aspirin can kill cancer cells.

Scientists the world over have been exploring aspirin’s role in killing cancer cells for some time, but the mechanism by which it can do so was not known.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology at Chennai have now demonstrated that aspirin preferentially targets cancer cells and kills them, while leaving out non-cancerous cells. This discovery could pave the way for designing new anti-cancer drugs based on aspirin in future. The research findings have been reported in journal Scientific Reports.

“We have discovered that aspirin exerts its anti-cancer activity by modulating voltage-dependent anion channel, a protein present in the mitochondria"

It has been found that aspirin acts on a specific protein called VDAC1 in a cell’s mitochondria to enable the entry of calcium ions. Since mitochondria provide energy for the cell to function, any alteration to this vital component could prove fatal for the cell. The VDAC1 protein, in presence of aspirin, also causes certain structural changes and release of small proteins from the mitochondria in the run up to cell destruction.

“We have discovered that aspirin exerts its anti-cancer activity by modulating voltage-dependent anion channel, a protein present in the mitochondria,” explained lead researcher Dr Amal Kanti Bera. The group has found that aspirin also causes disassociation of another protein, HK-II, from the mitochondria, thereby foiling the survival attempts of the cell in presence of imminent danger posed by aspirin’s presence in the system.

Dr Bera said “this work will help in designing aspirin based novel anti-cancer drugs”. Their study has brought to light a novel target for aspirin which, along with a cumulative effect of the disassociated protein, establishes its role as an anti-cancer drug. These findings could have major impact on anticancer drug development in near future.

The research team included Debanjan Tiwari (Left), Dhriti Majumdar(Middle), Sirisha Vallabhaneni , and Dr A.K Bera (Right) from the Department of Biotechnology at IIT, Madras. (India Science Wire)

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