Cox 2 and prostacyclin

Research on the Cox-2 class of drugs continues.  Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studied the effect of Cox-2s on the wall of blood vessels.  There is a fatty acid that comes from Cox2s called prostacyclin, which controls the response of the muscular wall of blood vessels.  When that fatty acid is depleted, the blood vessels can’t react to things like high blood pressure.  It seems that Cox-2 drugs can help to predispose people to high blood pressure and heart attack risk, even when the patient was at low risk to start with.

Hopefully studies like this will help doctors know when and how to use this type of medication.  For more on this story, read this article from AScribe.