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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 7, 2015; 21(41): 11748-11766
Published online Nov 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i41.11748
Eicosanoid pathway in colorectal cancer: Recent updates
Sinem Tuncer, Sreeparna Banerjee
Sinem Tuncer, Sreeparna Banerjee, Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800, Turkey
Author contributions: Tuncer S and Banerjee S wrote, discussed, read, and approved the manuscript.
Supported by The TÜBİTAK project, No. 113S935 (to Banerjee S).
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Sreeparna Banerjee, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800, Turkey. banerjee@metu.edu.tr
Telephone: +90-31-22106468 Fax: +90-31-22107976
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 6, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: June 25, 2015
Accepted: August 31, 2015
Article in press: August 31, 2015
Published online: November 7, 2015
Processing time: 188 Days and 22.5 Hours
Abstract

Enzymatic metabolism of the 20C polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) arachidonic acid (AA) occurs via the cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX) pathways, and leads to the production of various bioactive lipids termed eicosanoids. These eicosanoids have a variety of functions, including stimulation of homeostatic responses in the cardiovascular system, induction and resolution of inflammation, and modulation of immune responses against diseases associated with chronic inflammation, such as cancer. Because chronic inflammation is essential for the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), it is not surprising that many eicosanoids are implicated in CRC. Oftentimes, these autacoids work in an antagonistic and highly temporal manner in inflammation; therefore, inhibition of the pro-inflammatory COX-2 or 5-LOX enzymes may subsequently inhibit the formation of their essential products, or shunt substrates from one pathway to another, leading to undesirable side-effects. A better understanding of these different enzymes and their products is essential not only for understanding the importance of eicosanoids, but also for designing more effective drugs that solely target the inflammatory molecules found in both chronic inflammation and cancer. In this review, we have evaluated the cancer promoting and anti-cancer roles of different eicosanoids in CRC, and highlighted the most recent literature which describes how those molecules affect not only tumor tissue, but also the tumor microenvironment. Additionally, we have attempted to delineate the roles that eicosanoids with opposing functions play in neoplastic transformation in CRC through their effects on proliferation, apoptosis, motility, metastasis, and angiogenesis.

Keywords: Eicosanoids, Cyclooxygenase, Lipoxygenase, Inflammation, Colorectal cancer

Core tip: Eicosanoids are bioactive lipids generated from polyunsaturated fatty acids (usually arachidonic acid) through highly regulated enzymatic pathways in many different cell types. These molecules are effective in small amounts, and may act in an autocrine or paracrine manner to regulate some of the most important steps in the development of acute inflammation and its resolution. Aberrant expression of the enzymes that help synthesize these bioactive lipids is frequently seen in diseases associated with chronic inflammation, including cancer.