Acute inflammation or resolved inflammation is an adaptive host defense mechanism and is self-limiting, which returns the body to a state of homeostasis. However, unresolved, uncontrolled, or chronic inflammation may lead to various maladies, including cancer. Important evidence that links inflammation and cancer is that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, reduce the risk and mortality from many cancers. The fact that NSAIDs inhibit the eicosanoid pathway prompted mechanistic drug developmental work focusing on cyclooxygenase (COX) and its products. The increased prostaglandin E2 levels and the overexpression of COX-2 in the colon and many other cancers provided the rationale for clinical trials with COX-2 inhibitors for cancer prevention or treatment. However, NSAIDs do not require the presence of COX-2 to prevent cancer. In this review, we highlight the effects of NSAIDs and selective COX-2 inhibitors (COXIBs) on targets beyond COX-2 that have shown to be important against many cancers. Finally, we hone in on specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) that are biosynthesized locally and, in a time, -dependent manner to promote the resolution of inflammation and subsequent tissue healing. Different classes of SPMs are reviewed, highlighting aspirin's potential in triggering the production of these resolution-promoting mediators (resolvins, lipoxins, protectins, and maresins), which show promise in inhibiting cancer growth and metastasis.
Keywords: NSAIDs; aspirin; cancer; cyclooxygenase; non-Cox targets; resolution.