Targeting COX-2 expression by natural compounds: a promising alternative strategy to synthetic COX-2 inhibitors for cancer chemoprevention and therapy

Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 is a pro-inflammatory immediate early response protein, chronically up-regulated in many pathological conditions. In autoimmune diseases, it is responsible for degenerative effects whereas in cancer, it correlates with poor prognosis. A constitutive expression of COX-2 is triggered since the earliest steps of carcinogenesis. Consequently, strategies aimed at inhibiting COX-2 enzymatic activity have been clinically applied for the treatment of autoimmune disorders; in addition, the same approaches are currently investigated for anti-cancer purposes. However, COX-2 protein inhibitors (i.e., NSAIDs and COXIBs) are not amenable to prolonged administration since they may cause severe side effects, and efforts are underway to identify alternative approaches for chemoprevention/therapy. COX-2 …