Inhibitors of Bromodomain-4 and Cyclooxygenase-2: A Review on the Advantageous Effect of Dual-Target Approach in Cancer Treatment

The main objective of this review article is to establish a correlation between the roles of BRD-4 and COX-2 inhibitors in anticancer treatment. This article aims to project the synergistic benefits of a dual-target approach. A Literature review was conducted using the keywords such as BRD-4, cyclooxygenase-2, COX-2, Anticancer, anti-proliferative BRD-4 inhibitors, COX-2 inhibitors and dual-target therapy. Searches were made using the mentioned keywords individually as well as in combinations in PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar for the past ten years. The correlation between inflammatory mediators, particularly COX-2 and bromodomain in particular BRD-4 in cancers has been studied in a few research articles. These targets have been used for the development of anti-proliferative drugs individually as well as in combination. Combination therapy has been proposed to be better than mono-drug therapy. The need for a dual target concept has arisen to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy. The cancers where BRD-4 is over-expressed and inflammation is observed, it may be very much advantageous to give a combination therapy of BRD-4 and COX-2 inhibitors. Moreover, if the COX-2 inhibitors show anti-proliferative action, then the combination therapy is expected to work better than mono chemotherapy.