af 3442.

AF3442 is a potent and selective mPGES-1 inhibitor (microsomal prostaglandin (PG) E synthase-1). AF3442 caused a concentration-dependent inhibition of PGE(2) in human recombinant mPGES-1 with an IC(50) of 0.06microM. AF3442 is a selective mPGES-1 inhibitor which reduced monocyte PGE(2) generation also in the presence of plasma proteins. Pharmacological inhibition of mPGES-1 did not translate into redirection of PGH(2) metabolism towards other terminal PG synthases in monocytes. The functional relevance of this observation deserves to be investigated in vivo.