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Comment
. 2000 Jun;105(11):1511-3.
doi: 10.1172/JCI10241.

Is cyclooxygenase-2 the alpha and the omega in cancer?

S M Prescott  1
Affiliations
Comment

Is cyclooxygenase-2 the alpha and the omega in cancer?

S M Prescott. J Clin Invest. 2000 Jun.
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
COX-2 expression in multiple cells in tumors of different stages. The sequence of events shown has been constructed from studies with multiple types of cancer. For example, the work on the earliest events was from mouse and human experiments on adenomatous polyps of the colon, in which the earliest expression of COX-2 (shown in red) is in the stromal cells. In several types of cancers, COX-2 is found in multiple cells in the late stages. Metastatic tumors in bone and various other organs express COX-2 in the metastatic cells and surrounding cells. In the case of bone, osteoclasts, which degrade the bone matrix and allow growth of the newly metastasized tumor, are among these COX-2+ cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Possible routes of prostaglandin signaling in the induction of tumor angiogenesis. The experiments by Williams (1) suggest that COX-2 (and presumably prostaglandin synthesis) is required in the upstream stromal cells that provide VEGF to endothelial cells. Other investigators have found that COX-2 is required in the endothelial cells that will form the new blood vessels (downstream). Prostaglandins can exert their effects either through receptors on the cell surface, which are coupled to G proteins and various intracellular signaling pathways, or by the nuclear transcription factors (peroxisome proliferator–activated receptors). The routes through which prostaglandins act in this pathway are not known, but several possibilities are shown. In paracrine signaling, exogenous but locally produced prostaglandins (PG) act on the stromal cell to induce VEGF expression. Autocrine signaling differs in that the prostaglandins are produced in stromal cells and are secreted and act on receptors (blue) on the surface of these same cells. In intracrine signaling, prostaglandins also act on the producing cell, but they do so prior to being secreted. Similar events not shown here could occur in the downstream endothelial cell as well.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

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