5 ms·

Aspirin has anti-inflammatory properties. Could it be that some cancers are a consequence of a long-term, low-grade inflammation (possibly, a consequence of inf

by zvrba 12y ago

Aspirin has anti-inflammatory properties. Could it be that some cancers are a consequence of a long-term, low-grade inflammation (possibly, a consequence of infection with some kind of unknown virus)? Is low-grade inflammation detectable by blood tests?

riffraff 12y ago
I know next to nothing about medicine, but at least some cancers (can?) derive from human papillomavirus[0] infections. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus
- pja 12y ago
  That's probably because papillomavirus inactivates two tumour suppressing proteins in order to allow the host cell to proliferate. Nothing to do with inflammation per se.
erkkie 12y ago
depends on defining "low-grade" exactly but there's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-reactive_protein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-reactive_protein (specifically the high-sensitivity one)
robbiep 12y ago
We know that many cancers are a result of this. For example smoking related cancers of the lungs and oropharynx, alcohol related cancers to the oropharynx, gastrointestincal cancers from H. Pylori, Adenocarcinomas of the oesophagus from stomach acid due to GORD, some squamous cell carcinomas of the skin. Yes it is detectable, to an extent. But inflammatory markers change on an hour to hour basis, so a one-off test is not useful. And There is no benefit to testing on an extremely regular basis. Chronic high-level inflammation is easier to detect as there are certain proteins and blood markers that only change over the longer term however these are signs of chronic disease or even cancer itself and thus not really useful as a prevention. The cellular dysplasia that occurs is a better sign that some pathological process is underway and we utilise this information, collected through biopsy of skin lesions, examination of pap smear cells and other biopsy specimens to work out if we can do some procedure to reverse a potentially cancerous lesion. But there is no way to work out some global low level inflammation as the insult that causes many of these cancers occurs locally, and you really need to look at the tissues in the areas of the insult (as we already do) to see how far along it is; even if you could perform a blood test that would tell you that 'there is some low level chronic inflammatory process occuring that may lead to cancer' you would need to be able to localise that inflammation in order to work out how to reverse it
jp555 12y ago
That popped into my head as well. I have a similar hypothesis about moderate alcohol intake. Maybe it's not the flavanoids etc. in wine that provide the most benefit, but rather the stress-reduction effect of regular moderate alcohol consumption. Chronic stress is extremely underrated as a contributing factor in long term declining health. I wonder if there might be evidence of a similar connection with Asprin.
beachstartup 12y ago
I ain't no doctor! But that logic would also follow in prescribing regular aspirin for heart attacks: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/105/9/1135.full http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/105/9/1135.full Atherosclerosis, formerly considered a bland lipid storage disease, actually involves an ongoing inflammatory response... And if you want to get downright controversial, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/ ketogenic diets are prescribed for the same reason (carbohydrates cause inflammation in a lot of people)

by zvrba 12y ago

riffraff 12y ago

I know next to nothing about medicine, but at least some cancers (can?) derive from human papillomavirus[0] infections. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus

pja 12y ago
That's probably because papillomavirus inactivates two tumour suppressing proteins in order to allow the host cell to proliferate. Nothing to do with inflammation per se.

erkkie 12y ago

depends on defining "low-grade" exactly but there's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-reactive_protein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-reactive_protein (specifically the high-sensitivity one)

robbiep 12y ago

We know that many cancers are a result of this. For example smoking related cancers of the lungs and oropharynx, alcohol related cancers to the oropharynx, gastrointestincal cancers from H. Pylori, Adenocarcinomas of the oesophagus from stomach acid due to GORD, some squamous cell carcinomas of the skin. Yes it is detectable, to an extent. But inflammatory markers change on an hour to hour basis, so a one-off test is not useful. And There is no benefit to testing on an extremely regular basis. Chronic high-level inflammation is easier to detect as there are certain proteins and blood markers that only change over the longer term however these are signs of chronic disease or even cancer itself and thus not really useful as a prevention. The cellular dysplasia that occurs is a better sign that some pathological process is underway and we utilise this information, collected through biopsy of skin lesions, examination of pap smear cells and other biopsy specimens to work out if we can do some procedure to reverse a potentially cancerous lesion. But there is no way to work out some global low level inflammation as the insult that causes many of these cancers occurs locally, and you really need to look at the tissues in the areas of the insult (as we already do) to see how far along it is; even if you could perform a blood test that would tell you that 'there is some low level chronic inflammatory process occuring that may lead to cancer' you would need to be able to localise that inflammation in order to work out how to reverse it

jp555 12y ago

That popped into my head as well. I have a similar hypothesis about moderate alcohol intake. Maybe it's not the flavanoids etc. in wine that provide the most benefit, but rather the stress-reduction effect of regular moderate alcohol consumption. Chronic stress is extremely underrated as a contributing factor in long term declining health. I wonder if there might be evidence of a similar connection with Asprin.

beachstartup 12y ago

I ain't no doctor! But that logic would also follow in prescribing regular aspirin for heart attacks: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/105/9/1135.full http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/105/9/1135.full Atherosclerosis, formerly considered a bland lipid storage disease, actually involves an ongoing inflammatory response... And if you want to get downright controversial, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/ ketogenic diets are prescribed for the same reason (carbohydrates cause inflammation in a lot of people)