Boost for bowel cancer research

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A team of scientists at Edinburgh University have been awarded a grant by the charity Cancer Research UK to help with their work.

There are 36,000 people diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in Britain, and 16,000 deaths form the disease - making it the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK.

And in Scotland there are more than 3,500 cases a year and in excess of 1,500 deaths annually.

The Edinburgh University team, led by Dr Lesley Stark, previously discovered that treating bowel cancer cells with aspirin or similar non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) caused them to self-destruct.

The researchers, who are now trying to find out more about how this process occurs, have been awarded a grant of £160,000.

They are also hoping to develop new drugs that mimic the effect that aspirin has on cancer cells, as taking NSAIDs long-term can have side effects, making them unsuitable for use for cancer prevention.

Dr Stark said: "The ultimate aim of the study is to identify means other than NSAIDs that prevent bowel cancer in a similar way to aspirin."

She explained her team hoped to understand in more detail how aspirin and NSAIDs caused the bowel cancer cells to self-destruct.

"Understanding how NSAIDs act against bowel cancer gives us the chance to identify other drugs that have a similar preventative effect," Dr Stark said.