Meloxicam's ability to kill cancerous breast cells specifically but not normal breast cells by inhibiting COX-2, make it, and quite possible other COX-2 inhibitors, extremely promising as a tool in the fight against cancer.
 
          Many of the treatments that exist for cancer are often painful and can have adverse undesired effects to the patient. For example, chemotherapy utilizes drugs that kill cancer cells but it also affects the many of the body's systems such as the immune system and digestive system. Radiation therapy is also another treatment that exists and is known to cause fatigue, loss of appetite as well as weaken the immune system. COX-2 inhibitors can be used in conjunction with these treatments to help kill off cancer cells where COX-2 is expressed in high concentrations. The fact that they are able to inhibit COX-2 while not being toxic to normal cells, shows just how useful it can be.
 

Even today, cancer treatment usually requires painful methods like chemotherapy, which this patient above has had to undergo. Image courtesy of Getty Images.

 

          This pilot study shows that meloxicam is able to induce apoptosis in cancers of the breast. However, more research must be performed before any final conclusions can be made. For example, the effect of COX-2 inhibitors must be tested in vivo (in live subjects) and on more types of cancer before one can understand its true qualities in fighting cancer. This is because the environment in which the cells for this experiment were placed in was a very simplified environment where only type of cell existed. In the human body, however, numerous numbers of cells interact with each other, producing a plethora of chemicals that can affect each other in all sorts of ways.
 
          The exact mechanism through which COX-2 upregulates bcl-2 in cells must also be understood. Currently, all that is known is that COX-2, when present in high levels in cells, upregulates the expression of the anti-apoptotic bcl-2 protein. I would like to investigate what it is specifically about COX-2 that causes the bcl-2 protein to be overexpressed.