Aspirin and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: bedside to bench.
OBJECTIVE
To review the advances of studies on clinical results of aspirin's chemopreventive effect against esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and evidences for mechanisms of the antitumoural effects of aspirin in experimental research.


METHODS
A comprehensive search of the PubMed literatures without restriction on the publication date was carried out using keywords such as aspirin and esophageal cancer.


METHODS
Articles associated with aspirin and esophageal cancer are analyzed.


RESULTS
This review focuses on the current evidence for use of aspirin as a chemopreventive agent in ESCC. Aspirin is the most widely used among all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which is cheap and acceptable to patients. Several observational results provide the further investigation of prevention and therapy of aspirin or similar drugs in esophageal cancer. Data from case control studies, cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) also give some support of a beneficial role of aspirin on ESCC. Experimental data suggest that aspirin may prevent carcinogenesis of ESCC by favorably affecting proliferation, apoptosis, or other as yet unidentified growth-regulating processes. But the mechanism by which aspirin influence on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma needs further investigation.


CONCLUSIONS
A wealth of evidences ranging from clinical data to experimental results are building to suggest that aspirin has significant effects in reducing both the incidence and mortality of ESCC.
Department of Digestive Diseases, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University; Beijing Key Laboratory for Precancerous Lesion of Digestive Diseases; Beijing Digestive Diseases Center, Beijing 100050, China.
Peng
P
Li
Department of Digestive Diseases, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University; Beijing Key Laboratory for Precancerous Lesion of Digestive Diseases; Beijing Digestive Diseases Center, Beijing 100050, China.
Rui
R
Cheng
Department of Digestive Diseases, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University; Beijing Key Laboratory for Precancerous Lesion of Digestive Diseases; Beijing Digestive Diseases Center, Beijing 100050, China. Email: zhangst@ccmu.edu.cn.
Shutian
S
Zhang
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001241:Aspirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000077277:Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; D006801:Humans
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D001241:Aspirin