Fig. 2.
Eicosanoids in cancer and the tumor microenvironment. Lipid autacoids, such as PGE2 and LTB4, stimulate both epithelial cells and stromal cells to produce VEGF and FGF-2. These angiogenic growth factors induce COX2 and, in turn PGE2 and PGI2, in endothelial cells, creating an autocatalytic feedback loop. CCL2 (also known as monocyte chemotactic protein-1 or MCP-1) can stimulate macrophages to release COX2 and PGE2