How does this very influential idea stack up today in the light of the results that have been published on the actions ofthe coxibs and other selective inhibitors ofthe COX2 isoform? Like all ideas,it has seen some modifications over the passage oftime.At the tissue level there is an awareness that COX2 is more widespread in ‘normal’tissue than was at first suspected and that it is not necessarily restricted to inflammatory sites.Rat brain has a large amount ofthe enzyme under ‘resting’conditions85,with further COX2 induced at separate sites following the administration of lipopolysaccharide86. Certain other tissues around the body,including the MACULA DENSA region ofthe kidney87,are also rich sources ofthe enzyme under ‘normal’conditions and,probably because ofthis,COX2 inhibitors can cause hypertension and fluid retention in some patients88.Conversely,it has become apparent that COX1 can also be regulated under some circumstances89. The central idea that it is the inhibition of COX2 that is responsible for the therapeutic actions of the drugs,whereas COX1 inhibition is responsible for the side effects, is still valid, although there are some caveats. For example, there have also been wellfounded reports that COX2 is present in the marginal tissue of healing ulcers and that COX2 products might contribute to the resolution of inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract90–93 and elsewhere94.This implies that inhibition ofthe healing response in various tissues might be an unwelcome side effect of these drugs. Unexpectedly,celecoxib (as well as ibuprofen,a mixed inhibitor) reduced the generation of the protective eicosanoid prostacyclin in humans,giving rise to a concern about unwanted cardiovascular side effects95. Taking another tack entirely,Wallace and his colleagues96 have argued convincingly that inhibition of one isoform in the gastrointestinal tract can be compensated for if the other isoform is not inhibited,and that it is only mixed inhibitors of the COX isoforms that give rise to gastrointestinal damage. Interestingly, the administration of COX1 inhibitors leads to the rapid induction of COX2 in the gastric mucosa (presumably a protective response),perhaps explaining why both need to be inhibited to produce damage97. Despite all these qualifications,the hypothesis has taken us a long way forward.It has led to the discovery of a family of drugs that are better tolerated than the older NSAIDs,our knowledge of the action of COX inhibitors has been greatly fortified and the advent of COX2-selective drugs has enabled us to discern the role of this enzyme in physiological or pathological processes.There have,ofcourse,been new technical and other problems to solve.The question of the correct way of assessing and expressing the selectivity ofCOX1/COX2 inhibitors is one that has exercised many investigators and been responsible for the appearance of much confusing data in the literature.Novel COX assay systems had to be devised and the potential pitfalls,such as variations in the amount of substrate,time of preincubation and other factors that are likely to influence the action ofputative inhibitors,have been highlighted by several authors98,99.Many members of the scientific and clinical community have now settled on the ‘whole blood assay’100 that was originally described by Patrignani et al.in 1994 (REF.101)as a standard technique. No assay is without its irritations,but this method has the great advantage ofmeasuring the relative inhibitory activity in one sample ofblood from the relevant species (usually human) and oftaking into account factors such as plasma protein binding,which are usually ignored. The new data have also forced us to review the way in which we classify NSAIDs.There have been various suggestions102,103 for new nomenclature or classification of these drugs. Using a modification of Patrignani’s method,Warner et al.84 produced a definitive survey of most of the COX1/COX2 inhibitors available in 1999 and proposed an extremely useful classification system that has been widely adopted (TABLE 1). From the clinical point of view,the results of two major prospective studies — the VIGOR (Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Study)104 and the CLASS (Celecoxib Long Term Arthritis Safety Study)105 — compared gastrointestinal safety records of rofecoxib with those of naproxen,and celecoxib to ibuprofen and diclofenac.Despite some similarities,the two trials were executed somewhat differently.In the former study using a cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients, the concomitant use of other NSAIDs was not allowed,but the osteoarthritis cohort in the CLASS study were allowed to take low-dose aspirin in addition to celecoxib.In the completed VIGOR study,the incidence of PUBs (perforations,ulcers and bleeding)
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