Sodium salicylate, the active metabolite of aspirin, has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory activities by inhibiting the expression of various pro-inflammatory factors, and has potent anti-cancer effects against a number of human cancers including colon, lung, breast and leukemia. Necrotic cell death is emerging as one of the crucial factors that trigger an inflammatory response since during necrotic death the cell membrane is ruptured and the intracellular constituents including high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) are released into the extracellular space, thereby activating an inflammatory response. In contrast, autophagic death is regarded as a form of tumour suppressive cell death, as indicated in tumour suppressors such as beclin 1 in autophagic pathways. To better understand the anti-inflammatory properties of sodium salicylate and its effect on necrotic cell death in A549 cells induced by glucose depletion (GD), a common characteristic of the tumour micro-environment, was examined. While GD induced mostly necrotic death in A549 cells, salicylate suppresssed GD-induced necrosis and HMGB1 release. In addition, salicylate shifted the cell death pattern to autophagy by inhibiting GD-induced Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase release and ROS production. These results indicate that the activity of salicylate to prevent necrotic death may contribute to its anti-inflammatory action and suppress tumour development possibly through switching the cell death mode from tumour-promoting necrotic cell death to tumour-suppressive autophagic cell death.