Protein / target
Prostaglandin G/H synthase 2
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase activity
Primary system
Cardiovascular system
Strongest disease association
rheumatoid arthritis
Therapeutic maturity
Clinically validated target
Druggability
Small molecule
Clinical development
68 approved · 6 in clinical development
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function
Dual cyclooxygenase and peroxidase in the biosynthesis pathway of prostanoids, a class of C20 oxylipins mainly derived from arachidonate ((5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z)-eicosatetraenoate, AA, C20:4(n-6)), with a particular role in the inflammatory response (PubMed:11939906, PubMed:16373578, PubMed:19540099, PubMed:22942274, PubMed:26859324, PubMed:27226593, PubMed:7592599, PubMed:7947975, PubMed:9261177). The cyclooxygenase activity oxygenates AA to the hydroperoxy endoperoxide prostaglandin G2 (PGG2), and the peroxidase activity reduces PGG2 to the hydroxy endoperoxide prostaglandin H2 (PGH2), the precursor of all 2-series prostaglandins and thromboxanes (PubMed:16373578, PubMed:22942274, PubMed:26859324, PubMed:27226593, PubMed:7592599, PubMed:7947975, PubMed:9261177). This complex transformation is initiated by abstraction of hydrogen at carbon 13 (with S-stereochemistry), followed by insertion of molecular O2 to form the endoperoxide bridge between carbon 9 and 11 that defines prostaglandins. The insertion of a second molecule of O2 (bis-oxygenase activity) yields a hydroperoxy group in PGG2 that is then reduced to PGH2 by two electrons (PubMed:16373578, PubMed:22942274, PubMed:26859324, PubMed:27226593, PubMed:7592599, PubMed:7947975, PubMed:9261177). Similarly catalyzes successive cyclooxygenation and peroxidation of dihomo-gamma-linoleate (DGLA, C20:3(n-6)) and eicosapentaenoate (EPA, C20:5(n-3)) to corresponding PGH1 and PGH3, the precursors of 1- and 3-series prostaglandins (PubMed:11939906, PubMed:19540099). In an alternative pathway of prostanoid biosynthesis, converts 2-arachidonoyl lysophopholipids to prostanoid lysophopholipids, which are then hydrolyzed by intracellular phospholipases to release free prostanoids (PubMed:27642067). Metabolizes 2-arachidonoyl glycerol yielding the glyceryl ester of PGH2, a process that can contribute to pain response (PubMed:22942274). Generates lipid mediators from n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) via a lipoxygenase-type mechanism. Oxygenates PUFAs to hydroperoxy compounds and then reduces them to corresponding alcohols (PubMed:11034610, PubMed:11192938, PubMed:9048568, PubMed:9261177). Plays a role in the generation of resolution phase interaction products (resolvins) during both sterile and infectious inflammation (PubMed:12391014). Metabolizes docosahexaenoate (DHA, C22:6(n-3)) to 17R-HDHA, a precursor of the D-series resolvins (RvDs) (PubMed:12391014). As a component of the biosynthetic pathway of E-series resolvins (RvEs), converts eicosapentaenoate (EPA, C20:5(n-3)) primarily to 18S-HEPE that is further metabolized by ALOX5 and LTA4H to generate 18S-RvE1 and 18S-RvE2 (PubMed:21206090). In vascular endothelial cells, converts docosapentaenoate (DPA, C22:5(n-3)) to 13R-HDPA, a precursor for 13-series resolvins (RvTs) shown to activate macrophage phagocytosis during bacterial infection (PubMed:26236990). In activated leukocytes, contributes to oxygenation of hydroxyeicosatetraenoates (HETE) to diHETES (5,15-diHETE and 5,11-diHETE) (PubMed:22068350, PubMed:26282205). Can also use linoleate (LA, (9Z,12Z)-octadecadienoate, C18:2(n-6)) as substrate and produce hydroxyoctadecadienoates (HODEs) in a regio- and stereospecific manner, being (9R)-HODE ((9R)-hydroxy-(10E,12Z)-octadecadienoate) and (13S)-HODE ((13S)-hydroxy-(9Z,11E)-octadecadienoate) its major products (By similarity). During neuroinflammation, plays a role in neuronal secretion of specialized preresolving mediators (SPMs) 15R-lipoxin A4 that regulates phagocytic microglia (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (37)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Ccytoplasm
- Cendoplasmic reticulum
- Cendoplasmic reticulum lumen
- Cendoplasmic reticulum membrane
- Cneuron projection
- Cnuclear inner membrane
- Cnuclear outer membrane
- Fenzyme binding
- Fheme binding
- Fmetal ion binding
- Foxidoreductase activity, acting on single donors with incorporation of molecular oxygen
- Foxidoreductase activity, acting on single donors with incorporation of molecular oxygen, incorporation of two atoms of oxygen
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
View supporting evidenceHide supporting evidence
Immune signalling
- ·Dual cyclooxygenase and peroxidase in the biosynthesis pathway of prostanoids, a class o…
- ·brown fat cell differentiation
- ·positive regulation of brown fat cell differentiation
- ·regulation of inflammatory response
Metabolic enzyme activity
- ·oxidoreductase activity, acting on single donors with incorporation of molecular oxygen
- ·oxidoreductase activity, acting on single donors with incorporation of molecular oxygen,…
Haemostasis
- ·positive regulation of platelet-derived growth factor production
View underlying pathways (8)Hide underlying pathways
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
Interaction neighbourhood
Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.
Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.
Drugs targeting this protein
Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.
Cyclooxygenase inhibitor
Appears in clinical studies involving Headache, arthritic joint disease, Muscle spasm, Pain
ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.
Translational evidence
Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.
Highest-confidence therapeutic associations
Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.
Highest overall evidence
Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.
Show all associationsHide all associations
Open Targets ranks 2,957 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.
Known drugs · 79 total
osteoarthritis · rheumatoid arthritis · juvenile idiopathic arthritis
rheumatic disorder · Myalgia · Arthralgia
Miosis · rheumatic disorder
Dysmenorrhea · osteoarthritis · rheumatoid arthritis
sprain · Pain
osteoarthritis · rheumatoid arthritis · Pain
Chronic pain · rheumatic disorder · Myalgia
Pain · toothache · Headache
migraine disorder · rheumatic disorder · malignant epithelial tumor of ovary
Tractability
Safety liabilities
Clinical trials
Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein.
Show remaining trials (24)Hide
ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.
Related literature
Papers indexed under “Cyclooxygenase 2” — a subject heading that covers this protein without being specific to it. Shown as context; not counted as this protein's own research activity.
Europe PMC literature, reached through a MeSH descriptor linked to this protein.
Forefront confidence
Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.
The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.
What's happening now
Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through a drug that targets this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFFEINE AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA074951)
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: OXYCODONE AND ASPIRIN (ANDA040910)
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFEINE, AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA075231)
- Label change
Label change: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFFEINE AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA074951)
- Label change
Label change: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFEINE, AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA075231)
- Label change
Label change: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFEINE, AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA075231)
- Label change
Label change: OXYCODONE AND ASPIRIN (ANDA040910)
- Label change
Label change: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFFEINE AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA074951)
- Label change
Label change: OXYCODONE AND ASPIRIN (ANDA040910)
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFFEINE AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA074951)
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: OXYCODONE AND ASPIRIN (ANDA040910)
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: BUTALBITAL, ASPIRIN, CAFEINE, AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA075231)
Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.