Acetylsalicylic acid's (aspirin) anti-metastatic properties were first noted by Dr. Lawrence Craven in 1950
Discussion
By what mechanism would aspirin affect cancer? Aspirin is an antiinflammatory drug, which also happens to irreversibly bind to blood platelets. This means it is a good analgesic and antipyretic, and good against preventing platelet aggregation (i.e. clot formation).
There are hundreds of different types of cancer, each with their own genetic variability. There has been barely any improvement in cancer treatment in the last 30 years and it is expected to become the #1 cause of death soon, replacing cardiovascular disease.
I believe an improvement can be made by shifting the focus a bit from genetics to the metabolic aspects of the disease. Ketogenic diets with <10g of carbohydrates a day should be explored as an adiuvant treatment of almost any cancer.
prevents metastasis by limiting platelet TXA2 suppression of T cell immunity
This article refers to aspirin enhancing the immune response of T cells to metastatic cells. Since the main problem of cancers is related to not detecting them until they have already spread, this limits the potential benefit of aspirin to patients who have already had cancer, in order to prevent recurrence or to people with "early cancer", as mentioned in the article abstract.
Another issue with aspirin is that it increases the rate of bleeding in general, and in the GI tract in particular, which is a significant side effect and any potential benefit would have to be higher than that.
In other words, I'll hold my breath, at least until we have more data.
noted