SEATTLE, March 1 -- Aspirin and other NSAIDs decrease the risk of progression of the most aggressive form of Barrett's esophagus to esophageal cancer, researchers here reported.
The researchers also identified a high-risk cluster of four known cancer biomarkers in patients with Barrett's that significantly increased their risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma, according to a report in PLoS Medicine.
Barrett's patients with no genetic abnormalities upon joining the study had a 12% risk of developing esophageal cancer after 10 years, whereas those with three or more abnormalities at baseline had an almost 80% risk, said Patricia Galipeau, a research technician in the laboratory of Brian Reid, M.D., Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Galipeau and colleagues also found that those with three or more of the biomarkers who used aspirin or other NSAIDs had a 30% risk of esophageal cancer after 10 years, while those with the same biomarkers who did not use NSAIDs had a 79% risk of developing cancer within a decade.
