Recent development on COX-2 inhibitors as promising anti-inflammatory agents: The past 10 years

Zhiran Ju; Menglan Li; Junde Xu; Daniel C Howell; Zhiyun Li; Fen-Er Chen

doi:10.1016/j.apsb.2022.01.002

Recent development on COX-2 inhibitors as promising anti-inflammatory agents: The past 10 years

Acta Pharm Sin B. 2022 Jun;12(6):2790-2807. doi: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.01.002. Epub 2022 Jan 11.

Authors

Zhiran Ju^{1

2}, Menglan Li¹, Junde Xu¹, Daniel C Howell¹, Zhiyun Li¹, Fen-Er Chen^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta Region Green Pharmaceuticals, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
³ Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁴ Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China.

Abstract

Cyclooxygenases play a vital role in inflammation and are responsible for the production of prostaglandins. Two cyclooxygenases are described, the constitutive cyclooxygenase-1 and the inducible cyclooxygenase-2, for which the target inhibitors are the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Prostaglandins are a class of lipid compounds that mediate acute and chronic inflammation. NSAIDs are the most frequent choices for treatment of inflammation. Nevertheless, currently used anti-inflammatory drugs have become associated with a variety of adverse effects which lead to diminished output even market withdrawal. Recently, more studies have been carried out on searching novel selective COX-2 inhibitors with safety profiles. In this review, we highlight the various structural classes of organic and natural scaffolds with efficient COX-2 inhibitory activity reported during 2011-2021. It will be valuable for pharmaceutical scientists to read up on the current chemicals to pave the way for subsequent research.

Keywords: Adverse effects; COX-2 inhibitors; Cyclooxygenase; Inflammation; Prostaglandins.

Publication types

Review