Aspirin and TP53 - Letter in British Medical Journal

There's been a flurry of papers recently on the effects of aspirin in cancer prevention. Some people have raised the possibility of prescribing aspirin to the general population, or at least everybody over a certain age. However, while the argument will go on for a while, there's some parts of the population in urgent need of cancer prevention strategies. In particular, people with a defective TP53 gene or Li Fraumeni Syndrome are at incredibly high risk of developing the disease and yet no research is being carried out on active measures to stop the disease occurring.

Aspirin might or might not make a massive difference, but even if it only makes a small difference that's still positive. What we need is the research to start now. And this is the point I make in a letter published today in the British Medical Journal. The letter can be accessed online here: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e2480/rr/586138

This is an idea that needs to be pushed actively, and I hope to follow up with a more formal paper or article. The more we can do to kick start the research the better.