Women with aggressive breast cancer will be given aspirin under trials to see if it can boost treatment for the disease.

       Researchers hope the cheap and widely available drug could work well when combined with immunotherapy for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

       About 8,000 women a year are diagnosed with this type of disease in the UK.

       The trial, funded by the Breast Cancer Now Catalyst Programme, is the first clinical study to test if aspirin can make tumours more sensitive to immunotherapy in these patients.

       The research, led by Dr Anne Armstrong from the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, will trial the drug avelumab both with and without aspirin before patients receive surgery and chemotherapy treatment.

       Studies on mice have already found that pairing immunotherapy drugs with aspirin can help to control tumour growth.

       Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most deadly forms of the disease, disproportionately affecting young women.

       Breast Cancer Now said successful results could lead to further clinical trials of aspirin and avelumab for incurable secondary triple-negative breast cancer, which happens when cancer cells that started in the breast spread to other parts of the body.

       Dr Armstrong said: “Our earlier research has suggested that aspirin can make certain types of immunotherapy more effective by preventing the cancer from making substances that weaken the immune response.

       “Anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin could hold the key to increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy when used at the same time. Trialling the use of a drug like aspirin is exciting because it is so widely available and inexpensive to produce.

       “We hope our trial will show that, when combined with immunotherapy, aspirin can enhance its effects and may ultimately provide a safe new way to treat breast cancer.”

       Aspirin linked to drop in cancer deaths

       Separate research suggested that taking a daily aspirin could cut the risk of dying from cancer.

       A recent analysis of studies by Cardiff University found that taking aspirin was linked to a reduction in cancer deaths. The review and analysis of 118 published observational studies in patients with 18 different cancers showed that about 20 per cent more of the patients who took aspirin for other health reasons were likely to be alive, compared with those patients not taking aspirin.

       Dr Simon Vincent, of Breast Cancer Now, said: “The 8,000 women diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in the UK each year face the frightening reality of limited treatment options. We urgently need to address this.

       “Research has already suggested aspirin could improve outcomes for many cancer patients and we hope that Dr Armstrong’s trial will show the same to be true for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, so that we can prevent more lives being lost to this devastating disease.”

       Triple-negative breast cancer refers to a group of breast cancers that lack the three molecules used to classify the disease: the oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.

       While these molecules have successfully been used to develop targeted treatments for other types of breast cancer, their absence in triple-negative breast cancer limits treatment options, which can come with gruelling side effects.

       Breast Cancer Now said pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had provided the charity with funding through an independent medical research grant and given its researchers access to several Pfizer medicines.