Aspirin prevents liver damage

WASHINGTON - TAKING aspirin on a regular basis can prevent liver damage which afflicts millions and can result from alcohol abuse, use of certain drugs and obesity-related disease, a study said on Monday.

'Many agents such as drugs and alcohol cause liver damage, and we have found two ways to block a central pathway responsible for such liver injury,' said Prof Wajahat Mehal, lead author of the Yale University study.

'Our strategy is to use aspirin on a daily basis to prevent liver injury, but if it occurs, to use TLR antagonists (a class of molecules that block receptors known to activate inflammation) to treat it.'

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, was conducted on mice.

Prof Mehal explained that drugs that have failed clinical trials and were not pursued due to their toxicity for the liver could be used if combined with aspirin.

'This offers the exciting possibility of reducing a lot of pain and suffering in patients with liver diseases, using a new and very practical approach,' said Prof Mehal, an associate professor at the Section of Digestive Diseases and Department of Immunobiology of the Yale School of Medicine.

The preventative benefits of aspirin to combat cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer are have already been studied and documented. -- AFP