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Indian scientists discover how aspirin can kill cancer cells
By Dr Swati Subodh
New Delhi, April 5 (India Science Wire): 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.
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)