研究表明 阿司匹林除了能止痛還能抗癌!

Aspirin has been used as a medication to treat pain, fever and inflammation, but a new study shows that daily doses of aspirin could also help ward off cancer.

阿司匹林一直以來都是一種被用來抑制疼痛、治療發燒和炎症的藥物，但是最近一項研究表明，每天服用阿司匹林還能預防癌症。

Earlier studies have discovered that aspirin may decrease the risk of certain types of cancer, but scientists remain puzzled for years over how exactly the drug works to prevent the deadly disease, with many attributing it to the drug's inflammation-lowering properties.

之前的一些研究已經發現阿司匹林可以降低患上某些癌症的風險，但是科學家們對於這種藥物到底是如何預防癌症困惑了很多年，許多人都認爲原因是因爲阿司匹林可以消炎。

According to the new study, scientists from Veterans Affairs in Texas suggested that the pain-relief medication's interaction with platelets, the blood cells that form clots to stop bleeding, could stop tumors from growing.

據這項最新研究表明，德州退伍軍人事務部的科學家們表示，這種藥物和血小板（血小板可以凝固血液）相互作用，可以防止腫瘤生長。

Normally, platelets can help form new blood vessels when a clot forms after a wound, but the same action can help tumors proliferate and survive.

通常情況下，受傷血管阻塞之後，血小板可以幫助形成新的血管，但是這一功能也能幫助腫瘤增殖和生存。

The research, published in the February issues of Cancer Prevention Research, found that aspirin disrupts the normal clotting process by shutting down a key enzyme called COX-1, thereby blocking interactions between platelets and cancer cells and curbing the growth of tumors.

這項研究（發表於《癌症預防研究》二月最新刊上）發現，阿司匹林會破壞正常的凝血過程，會使得缺少一種關鍵的酶COX-1，從而阻斷血小板和癌症細胞之間的相互作用、抑制腫瘤生長。

Some experiments used regular aspirins from a local drug store, while the new study used a special mix of aspirin and phosphatidylcholine (PC), a type of lipid or fat molecule found in soy lecithin, which is designed to ease the gastrointestinal risk associated with regular aspirins.

之前的一些實驗使用的是從當地藥店購買的普通阿司匹林，但是這項最新研究使用的是阿司匹林和磷脂酰膽鹼的混合物。磷脂酰膽鹼是從大豆卵磷脂中發現的一種脂質或脂肪分子，可以用來緩解阿司匹林引起的胃腸道風險。

The study provided evidence that the enhanced aspirin complex, called Aspirin-PC/PL2200, possesses the same or more pronounced actions versus regular aspirins with regard to antiplatelet effects.

該研究表明，相比於普通的阿司匹林，這種增強版的混合物（稱之爲Aspirin-PC/PL2200）在破壞血小板作用方面效果更佳顯著。

"These results suggest that aspirin's chemopreventive effects may be due, in part, to the drug blocking the proneoplastic action of platelets and they support the potential use of Aspirin-PC/PL2200 as an effective and safer chemopreventive agent for colorectal cancer and possibly other cancers," said scientists in the study.

負責這項研究的科學家們表示：“這些結果表明，阿司匹林的預防作用可能部分是由於這種藥物可以阻斷血小板的凝血過程，也說明Aspirin-PC/PL2200有可能可以作爲一種有效且更安全的化學藥劑來預防大腸癌和其他癌症。”