A common, over-the-counter painkiller could be the key to preventing certain cancers, a Swedish study has revealed.

The anti-inflammatory ingredients in the painkillers help to ‘turn off’ a virus that lies dormant in three quarters of the population – the same virus that helps fuel the growth of cancer tumours.

The Cytomegalovirus (CMV) ‘wakes up’ when it detects cancer cells and helps the tumour grow. However, scientists from the Karolinska Institute have found that taking common painkillers, combined with anti-inflammatory pills called COX-2, helps shrink deadly tumours by 72%.

CMV is thought to be a main player in cancers of the breast, brain, bowel and prostate, which kills 43,287 people a year.

“This presents a new approach and could be used as a possible complementary therapy,” says lead researcher, Professor Cecilia Soderberg-Naucler.