Aspirin reduces the risk of ovarian cancer in spite of genetic risk

Those with a genetic predisposition to ovarian cancer may be able to reduce their risk with daily aspirin use, according to a new study.

US researchers conducted a meta-analysis of published data, and used polygenic risk scores to identify patients at higher risk of developing ovarian cancer. to investigate the effect of aspirin use on ovarian cancer risk.

'The findings of this case-control study suggest that frequent aspirin use reduces the risk of nonmucinous ovarian cancer … including among individuals with a [polygenic score] greater than the median,' the authors wrote.

This study, published in JAMA Network Open, came from the same team who previously demonstrated that regular aspirin use was associated with lower ovarian cancer risk in the general population.

Lead author Dr Britton Trabert, from the University of Utah said of that research: 'Ovarian cancer is the most fatal gynaecologic cancer. Most known risk factors of ovarian cancer – such as family history, mutations in the BRCA1 and 2 genes, and endometriosis – can't be modified.'

Because regular aspirin use can have adverse effects such as stomach ulcers, the researchers wanted to investigate the effect in individuals with a high genetic risk of disease, for whom the benefits have most potential to outweigh possible harms.

They pooled data from eight large case-control studies from the USA, the UK, and Australia between 1995-2009, totalling 4476 case patients and 6659 controls. Of these, 86 percent of the participants had genotype data available.

The team used a previously developed polygenic genetic risk score that relies on 22 genetic variants, but they were unable to test for the effect of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations specifically, which are the greatest known genetic risk factors for the disease.

The results showed that taking aspirin regularly reduced the chance of developing ovarian cancer by about 13 percent, across groups with different genetic predispositions to ovarian cancer.

The authors wrote: 'These results suggest that inherited genetic susceptibility to ovarian cancer based on currently identified common genetic variants does not modify the protective association between frequent aspirin use and ovarian cancer.'

'These results now must be explored by clinicians so that women at high risk can benefit from these discoveries as soon as possible,' said Marie-Claire Platt, from Ovarian Cancer Action, who was not involved in the study. 'Until then, taking aspirin regularly can have risks so it's important that patients consider discussing its use for cancer prevention with medical professionals.'