Resumen de Herbal medicine, cancer prevention and cyclooxygenase 2 inhibition.

Francesco Capasso, Angelo A. Izzo

• In their recent TiPS article [ 1 ], Subbaramaiah and Dannenberg highlighted the possibility of employing selective cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) inhibitors in cancer prevention. Here, we wish to draw attention to several herbal medicines, namely green tea, ginseng and Allium vegetables (i.e. garlic and onion), that, on the basis of epidemiological studies, have shown promising signs of possessing chemopreventive activity [ 2 ]. An ability to inhibit COX-2 activity is a common feature of the active ingredients in these herbs.