The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine

Georgia Veterinary Scholars Program

GVSP Summer 2009 Scholars

Georgia Veterinary Scholar

Faculty Mentor

Kendall Flynt
University of Georgia
Class of 2012

Dr. Bruce LeRoy
Department of Pathology

UGA College of Veterinary Medicine

In Vitro Effects of a Selective COX-2 Inhibitor on Canine Prostate Cancer Cell Growth

* J. Flynt, B. LeRoy

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors are useful adjunct therapies for treating a wide variety of neoplasms in humans and animals. Previous studies have shown that COX-2 inhibitors can reduce tumor size through decreasing cell proliferation. We used an in vitro assay to determine the effects of a selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor, deracoxib, on the proliferation and growth of a canine prostate cancer cell line. An agarose gel assay was prepared with Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium(DMEM) in 12-well microplates. Canine prostate carcinoma cells were suspended in agarose at 5 different concentrations ranging from 1x103cells/mL to 2.0x104cells/mL. After 24 hours of incubation, the cells were treated with concentrations of derocoxib ranging from 0.5mM to 500.0mM. Control cells received vehicle only. On post-treatment days 1, 3, 6, and 9, cells were examined under light microscopy and colonies of cells ≥0.0125mm in size were counted. We found that deracoxib-treated cells showed an increase in proliferation with the exception of the highest concentration of deracoxib, 500.0mM, which has been previously shown to be a toxic level to cells. Our data shows that COX-2 inhibitors appear to stimulate canine prostate cancer cell proliferation at therapeutic levels and could be useful adjunct therapies to increase the effectiveness of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs.