Flurbiprofen suppresses the inflammation, proliferation, invasion and migration of colorectal cancer cells via COX2

Colorectal cancer is an aggressive disease with a poor prognosis and low survival rate at the advanced stage, therefore new innovative targets are urgently required. Flurbiprofen has been reported to exhibit therapeutic effects in other types of cancer, such as esophageal cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the function of flurbiprofen in colorectal cancer. SW620 colorectal cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of flurbiprofen to determine the optimum concentration. Subsequently, COX2 expression affected by flurbiprofen was tested using western blotting, reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and immunofluorescence. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1β. Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation and flow cytometry assays were used to assess the proliferation and apoptosis of SW620 cells in various groups. Western blotting was performed to investigate the expression of proliferation-, apoptosis- and migration-related proteins after different treatments. Wound healing and Transwell assays were performed to measure the invasion and migration of colorectal cancer cells, respectively. The results demonstrated that flurbiprofen inhibited colorectal cancer cell proliferation. Furthermore, it was identified that flurbiprofen inhibited the expression of COX2. Notably, flurbiprofen suppressed the expression of inflammatory factors by inhibiting COX2. Moreover, flurbiprofen inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of colorectal cancer cells by inhibiting COX2. In conclusion, the present study revealed that flurbiprofen inhibited COX2 expression in colorectal cancer, and affected the proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells. These results expand the understanding of the function of COX2 in colorectal cancer and the effect of flurbiprofen on COX2 expression.