Cancer becomes much more dangerous when it spreads to other parts of the body. This spreading is called metastasis, and it causes most deaths from cancer—not the first tumor.
When cancer cells move away from the main tumor, they can travel through the blood or lymph system. They then start growing in other places in the body. These small groups of cancer cells are often too tiny to see or remove during surgery. That makes them very hard to treat.
To deal with this, doctors often give chemotherapy after surgery. The goal is to kill any cancer cells left behind before they start growing again. But chemotherapy has its problems. One surprising issue is that it can cause inflammation in the body.
This inflammation might actually help cancer cells spread. That’s a big problem. Doctors want to stop cancer from coming back, but the treatment might be making it easier for cancer to grow.
Scientists at Emory University may have found a surprising answer. They studied an old pain medicine called ketorolac. This drug is part of a group called NSAIDs—nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Ibuprofen is another example of this group. Ketorolac is approved by the FDA and is used for short-term pain, often after surgery. But it’s not used a lot because it can cause side effects if taken for too long.
Now, this old drug might have a new use. The Emory team, led by Dr. Vikas P. Sukhatme, gave ketorolac to mice before cancer surgery. The results were exciting.
The drug helped the immune system find and destroy cancer cells that had already started spreading. The mice given ketorolac had fewer tumors in other parts of their bodies. They also lived longer than mice that didn’t get the drug.
This might explain something doctors noticed years ago. Some breast cancer patients who got ketorolac during surgery had lower chances of the cancer returning or spreading. At the time, no one knew why. Now, this study might be the answer.
The researchers also tested a mix of treatments. They combined ketorolac with low-dose aspirin and omega-3 fatty acids. These are healthy fats found in fish oil. All three help reduce inflammation. This mix worked even better. The mice had stronger immune responses, fewer new tumors, and better survival.
It might sound surprising that simple drugs could help fight cancer. But it makes sense. Inflammation in the body can create a space where cancer cells grow more easily. Drugs like ketorolac and aspirin reduce that inflammation. This makes it harder for cancer to spread and helps the immune system fight back.
The researchers think ketorolac could one day be added to regular cancer treatments. But they say it’s too soon to change how doctors treat patients right now. They need to study it more—on different kinds of cancer, in more people, and at different doses. They also want to make sure it’s safe.
Still, these early results give hope. If future research shows the same effects in people as in mice, ketorolac could be a cheap and powerful way to stop cancer from spreading. It could save lives and make treatment easier for many patients.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. It’s a good reminder that sometimes, the biggest discoveries come from old and familiar places.
Ketorolac has been around for years, but it might help solve one of the hardest problems in cancer care: how to stop it from spreading. The researchers are now working hard to turn this exciting idea into real help for patients.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that a low-carb diet could increase overall cancer risk, and berry that can prevent cancer, diabetes, and obesity.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer and results showing vitamin D supplements could strongly reduce cancer death.
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