Effects of drugs on prostaglandin synthesis

The role of prostaglandins in inflammatory processes is now recognized to be more complex than that of mere mediators or modulators of the acute inflammatory response. As well as their obvious vasodilator properties they have profound regulatory effects on cell function, and these may be anti-inflammatory as well as pro-inflammatory. Consequently the use of those effective non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs which are potent prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors may in fact have detrimental effects in inflammation. Further development of cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors is less likely to lead to genuine therapeutic advance than is development of anti-inflammatory drugs with actions on other aspects of the inflammatory and destructive processes in rheumatoid disease.