The chemopreventive activity of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (
NSAIDs), particularly
aspirin, has been well demonstrated in preclinical and clinical studies. However, the primary side effect from this class of
drug is gastrointestinal (GI)
bleeding, which has limited the widespread use of
NSAIDs for the prevention of
cancer. The development of GI-safer
NSAIDs, which are associated with
phosphatidylcholine (PC) may provide a
solution to this therapeutic problem. In the present study, the efficacy of two
NSAIDs,
aspirin and
indomethacin, were compared using murine
colon cancer cell line MC-26. Each
NSAID was assessed alone and in combination with PC, using in vitro and in vivo systems. The results reveal that the PC-associated
NSAIDs had a significantly higher degree of protection against
cancer cell growth compared with the unmodified
NSAIDs. It was also observed that
Aspirin-PC and
Indomethacin-PC prevented the metastatic spread of
cancer cells in a syngeneic mouse model. These results support the potential use of PC-
NSAIDs for the
chemoprevention of
colorectal cancer.