Could taking aspirin halve the risk of bowel cancer?

A daily low dose of aspirin could significantly reduce the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition that increases the likelihood of developing certain cancers.

In this episode, we explore the findings from the landmark CaPP3 trial, hear from a participant living with Lynch syndrome, and discuss how genomics could help shift healthcare from treatment to prevention. 

Our host, Sharon Jones is joined by: 

• Dr Katie Snape, Principal Clinician for Population Health at Genomics England 

• Professor Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University 

• Drew Hyde, participant in the Cancer Prevention Programme (CaPP3) 

Links: 

• Listen to: How can genomics help us understand cancer? 

"I think knowing is always a good thing. And obviously, I wish I'd known earlier, and then, I could have taken more measures earlier on. So I think knowledge is definitely a good thing. And it would be great if more people could be tested or could find out if they were carriers at an early age, I think." 

You can download the transcript or read it below.

[00:00:00] Sharon: Welcome to Behind the Genes. In today's episode, we'll explore the research which shows how a low dose of aspirin can halve the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch syndrome. We'll hear about the real-life impact of living with the condition, and look at how genomics can help shape a more preventative approach to care in the future.

[00:00:20] I'm Sharon Jones, and to help us unpack all of that, I'm joined by our guests, Dr. Katie Snape, principal clinician for population health at Genomics England; Sir John Burn, professor of clinical genetics at Newcastle University; and Drew Hyde, a participant in the Cancer Prevention Programme, which is also known as the CaPP3 trial.

[00:00:42] So to start with the basics, Katie, can you walk us through what cancer is in simple terms?

[00:00:50] Katie: Sure, Sharon. So, our body is made up of cells. Those are the building blocks that, that make us as humans and other creatures and plants. And our cells need to keep dividing throughout our lifetime as our bodies are growing and working normally.

[00:01:06] And so we need to have processes in place in our body where our cells can divide, but then also stop dividing when we don't need them to carry on dividing. What happens in a cancer cell is basically that cell becomes abnormal, and it doesn't follow the normal checks and balances and rules of cell division.

[00:01:23] So it starts to divide and grow uncontrollably, and it can start to invade other tissues and obviously, that can cause serious consequences.

[00:01:33] Sharon: We'll hear a lot more from Dr. Katie Snape in this episode. But before we move on, I just wanted to flag that there was an episode of our Genomics 101 explainer series with Katie dedicated to helping us get to grips with how genomics can help us understand and diagnose cancer.

[00:01:47] Do go and check that out. We'll put a link to that in the episode description.

[00:01:54] So the World Health Organization estimates between 30 to 50% of all cancers are preventable. So, Katie, when we talk about cancer being preventable, what does that actually mean? And what's an example of cancer prevention that people might already know?

[00:02:11] Katie: Yeah. So some cancers are due to chance or just mistakes happening as our cells copy.

[00:02:19] Other cancers are because there has been damage to the genetic information within the cell that can be caused by certain things that can cause damage to DNA. So for example, a sort of obvious answer would be skin c