In short, COX-2 or 5-LOX deletion and its inhibitors enhanced activity of PTEN and suppressed cell and adenoma progression through PI3K/AKT pathway in colorectal cancer.
To elucidate the involved mechanisms, two colon-relevant metabolites of the polyphenolic and fiber PMD components, urolithin-A (u-A) and sodium butyrate (SB), are tested alone or in combination in vitro (colon cancer cells), and ex vivo in adenoma (AD) and normal mucosa (NM) from Pirc rats. u-A 25 μm plus SB 2.5 mm (USB) causes a significant reduction in COX-2 protein expression compared to untreated controls (about -70% in cancer cell cultures, AD, and NM), and a strong increase in C-CASP-3 expression in cells (about ten times), in AD and NM (+74 and +69%).
COX-2 inhibitors seem to be more effective in preventing recurrence of adenomas; however, there was a trend of an increased risk of recurrence of adenomas observed after discontinuing regular use.
Several genes including Tiam1, Gastrin, CD44, uPA, Igfbp4, VEGF and Cox-2 that are known to be transcriptionally regulated by activation of the Wnt signaling pathway were found to be expressed at higher levels in the large intestinal adenomas from K-rasVal12/Cre/ApcMin/+ mice compared with those from controls, although other Wnt signaling pathway target genes remained unchanged.
Furthermore, pharmacologic inhibition or gene silencing of 11betaHSD2 inhibited COX-2-mediated PGE2 production in tumors and prevented adenoma formation, tumor growth, and metastasis in mice.
The data from our pilot study suggest that allelic variants of the COX-2 gene significantly influence the risk of adenoma development in the African American population.
Third, using the Apc Min/+ mice model, we demonstrated that inhibition of the CD44v6 expression reduces the signaling through a hyaluronan/CD44v6-pErbB2-Cox-2 interaction pathway and reduced adenoma number and growth.
In this study, we show that the adenoma prevention activity of the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib requires the concomitant presence of the 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) tumor suppressor gene, and that loss of 15-PGDH expression imparts resistance to celecoxib's anti-tumor effects.
HuR and COX-2 protein expression were studied by immunohistochemistry of normal colon mucosa (N=20), adenomas (N=112), carcinomas (N=9) from patients with FAP, and 141 sporadic colorectal adenocarcinomas (Dukes B and C).
We investigated interactions between dietary fish intake and polymorphisms in cyclooxygenase (COX)-1, COX-2, ALOX5 and PGIS in a case-control study of adenomas (N = 522), hyperplastic polyps (N = 194) and polyp-free controls (N = 626).
COX-2 expression did not differ significantly in tubular compared with tubulovillous adenomas, although there appeared to be a trend toward higher COX-2 expression in tubulovillous adenomas with increasing villous content.
In the same patient, COX-2was negative in the hyperplasia region but positive in adenoma and adenocarcinoma regions, showing results reflecting the progression of the disease.