Toronto (ECN) - Asprin may help prevent colon cancer in people who have Lynch syndrome.

According to MayoClinic.com, Lynch syndrome is a rare inherited condition that increases your risk of colon cancer and other cancers. Lynch syndrome is also known as hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). A number of inherited syndromes can increase your risk of colon cancer, but Lynch syndrome is the most common. An estimated 2 percent to 3 percent of colon cancers — or two or three out of every 100 colon cancers — are thought to be caused by Lynch syndrome.

Families that have Lynch syndrome usually have more cases of colon cancer than would typically be expected. Lynch syndrome also causes colon cancer to occur at an earlier age than it might in the general population.

Professor John Burn, from the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University, and a lead author of the study, said taking aspirin may be a simple way of controlling cancer stem cells that form malignant tumors.

For the study, 1,071  people with the Lynch syndrome gene were given 600 milligrams of aspirin daily.

10 years after the initial treatment, only six people developed colon caner, compared to 16 people who were given a placebo.

The findings were presented in Berlin at a meeting of the European Cancer Organisation.