WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Two studies published on Thursday in the journal JAMA Oncology suggested new uses of aspirin: reducing risk of liver and ovarian cancers.

One study by Massachusetts General Hospital showed that regular aspirin use or taking two or more 325 mg standard-use tablets a week for five years or more could lead to a significantly reduced risk of developing primary liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide.

The research team examined data on more than 133,300 participants with regular aspirin use since the 1980s. They took two or more standard-dose tablets a week, and had a 49-percent reduction in the relative risk of developing HCC.

Among those taking aspirin for five years or more, the relative risk was reduced by 59 percent.

Just as the risk reduction increased with longer duration of aspirin use, it also decreased if aspirin was discontinued, disappearing by eight years after aspirin use was halted.

In another study, Harvard researchers reported that women taking recent, regular use of low-dose aspirin (100 milligrams or less) had a 23-percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer when compared with women who did not regularly take aspirin.

The researchers analyzed data on 205,498 women, among which 1,054 developed ovarian cancer.

The study also found that long-term heavy use of non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may be associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer.

A growing body of evidence indicated that inflammation played a role in the development of ovarian cancer. It's believed that aspirin lowers ovarian cancer risk by reducing inflammation, according to the study.

The results showed that recent low-dose aspirin use was associated with a lower risk of ovarian cancer while standard-dose aspirin use was not.

However, the researchers did not observe an increasingly lower ovarian cancer risk with longer durations of low-dose aspirin use. Enditem

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