{"entity":{"id":"cox2","kind":"target","name":"COX-2 (PTGS2)","aka":[],"tldr":"COX-2 makes the inflammatory prostaglandins that help tumours grow; aspirin and celecoxib block it, which is why they reduce colorectal polyps and are studied for cancer prevention.","summary":"Prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (COX-2) is induced by inflammation and is overexpressed in colorectal adenomas and many carcinomas, where prostaglandin E2 drives proliferation, angiogenesis and immune suppression. Celecoxib was approved to reduce polyps in familial adenomatous polyposis (later withdrawn from that indication) and low-dose aspirin lowers colorectal cancer risk in long-term trials; COX-2 inhibition remains a live prevention and adjuvant question.","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostaglandin-endoperoxide_synthase_2","links":[{"label":"UniProt P35354: PTGS2","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P35354/entry"},{"label":"HGNC:9605 PTGS2","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:9605"},{"label":"ChEMBL target CHEMBL230","url":"https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembl/explore/target/CHEMBL230"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["colorectal"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["celecoxib"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["tumor-promoting-inflammation","inducing-angiogenesis"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"PTGS2","role":[],"sources":[],"specificity":"tumour-associated","distribution":"one-type","specificityNote":"Tumour-associated overexpression: HPA finds the RNA cancer enhanced in cancer (Lung Adenocarcinoma (TCGA)) and tissue enhanced in normal bone marrow, seminal vesicle, urinary bladder, so the tumour and the normal tissue it comes from share the target and the medicine relies on the difference in level. HPA PTGS2: RNA tissue enhanced (bone marrow 110 nTPM, seminal vesicle 120 nTPM, urinary bladder 151 nTPM); blood lineage lineage enriched (granulocytes 12 nTPM); high antibody staining in 7 normal tissues; highest cancer staining endometrial cancer (4 of 12 high). Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Colorectal cancer); approvals of single-target medicines aimed at it also list Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, not counted; Open Targets associates it with 1 specific cancer type at or above 0.5 (classic familial adenomatous polyposis). (Rule 7 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas PTGS2 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000073756-PTGS2/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Human Protein Atlas PTGS2 pathology","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000073756-PTGS2/pathology","note":"patients per staining level per cancer type (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000073756 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000073756/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:9605","ensembl":"ENSG00000073756","uniprot":"P35354","entrez":"5743","firstDescribed":1992,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Hla et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, 1992, \"Human cyclooxygenase-2 cDNA\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1380156/","biology":"An inducible cyclooxygenase converting arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H2; PGE2 acts through EP receptors on tumour and immune cells.","whereFound":["Colorectal adenomas and carcinomas (overexpressed)","Inflamed tissue, many solid tumours"],"targetClass":"enzyme","prevalence":[{"cancerId":"colorectal","pct":"about 85","measure":"COX-2 overexpression by mRNA in colorectal carcinomas","source":"https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-5085(94)90246-1"}]},"route":"/targets/cox2/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"}],"drug":[{"id":"celecoxib","kind":"drug","name":"Celecoxib","route":"/drugs/celecoxib/"}],"term":[{"id":"tumor-promoting-inflammation","kind":"term","name":"Enabling characteristic: tumour-promoting inflammation","route":"/terms/tumor-promoting-inflammation/"},{"id":"inducing-angiogenesis","kind":"term","name":"Hallmark: inducing or accessing vasculature","route":"/terms/inducing-angiogenesis/"}]}}