A daily dose of aspirin considerably reduces the risk of prostate cancer among men, said a new Duke University study.

The study involved 6,390 men, none of whom had prostate cancer at the start of the study. The findings were presented at last week's 13th Annual American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference in New Orleans.

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The study was part of the Reduce clinical trials, a study that sought to test if dutasteride, a drug for enlarged prostate, reduces the risk of prostate cancer. In the course of the study, Duke University researchers also decided to determine how men's use of aspirin affected their odds of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

They also wanted an answer to a previous and intriguing observation that taking anti-inflammatory medicines like aspirin can reduce men's levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). If elevated, PSA is considered an indicator for prostate cancer, said Adriana Vidal, the study's author and an assistant professor of urology at Duke University.

Half of the men in the four-year study were given aspirin or another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) or both. Half weren't given any medicine at all.

Over the course of the study, the men that took the pills fared better than those that didn't.

Researchers found that taking aspirin and/or an NSAID was associated with a 13 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer. Even better, both drugs were linked to a 17 percent reduction in aggressive prostate cancer.

Researchers said the most likely reason for the finding are two enzymes named COX-1 and COX-2.  These enzymes are involved in the synthesis of inflammatory prostaglandins that can promote cell proliferation, eventually leading to cancer,

Vidal said aspirin and NSAIDs inhibit these enzymes.

Other data also confirmed the benefits of daily dosage of aspirin in men.

"Studies have shown that aspirin administration for five or more years reduces the incidence of all cancers by 38 percent. This benefit is seen even at the low doses of aspirin [e.g., 81 mg daily]," says Pierre Massion, professor of medicine and cancer biology in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

Past research has indicated a similar link between aspirin and prevention of other types of cancer.

A study published in the medical journal, Lancet, found that taking at least 75 milligrams of aspirin per day over five years significantly cut the risk of colon cancer.

Despite these findings, Vidal and her team aren't ready to recommend a daily dose of aspirin for anybody with a prostate cancer.

"We didn't have data on dose or frequency, so that's a limitation of the study," Vidal said.

Previous studies, however, suggest taking an aspirin tablet twice a week for at least four years is the minimum intake associated with reduced prostate cancer risk, noted Vidal.

She advises a person to talk to his doctor before adding aspirin to his medication regimen.

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