cox-2 and HCV

I started taking the cox-2 drug for myalgia and pains that might be caused by HCV.

I found this on cox-2 research and hcv.

What does it mean? Should people with HCV take these drugs?

Source: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1181604

Effect of Cox-2 inhibitors and PGE2 on HCV replication. To evaluate the effect of Cox-2 activity and production of PGE2 on HCV RNA replication in replicon-containing cells, FCA4 cells were treated with the inhibitors of Cox-2 (celecoxib and NS-398) and subsequently incubated with exogenous PGE2. To determine the levels of HCV RNA, total cellular RNA was extracted from Huh-7 and FCA4 cells and quantified by real-time RT-PCR. The results show an approximate 35 to 50% increase in HCV RNA levels in FCA4 cells that were incubated with Cox-2 inhibitors (celecoxib and NS-398) (Fig. 5A, and B, bars 3 and 4), suggesting that elevation of Cox-2 enzymatic activity by HCV down-regulates RNA replication. Similarly, HCV-expressing cells incubated with exogenous PGE2 also showed a decrease in HCV RNA levels (Fig. 5C). Moreover, the inhibitory effect of PGE2 on HCV replication can be substantially restored by treatment of cells with Cox-2 inhibitors (celecoxib and NS-398) (Fig. 5C). To demonstrate that the effect of Cox-2 inhibitors and PGE2 on HCV replication is not specific to the FCA4 stable cell line, we also performed transient transfections of Huh-7 cells with an in vitro-synthesized subgenomic replicon BM4-5 RNA (22) and incubated these cells in the presence of Cox-2 inhibitors (celecoxib and NS-398) and exogenous PGE2. Similar reductions in HCV RNA levels were observed using the transient-transfection scheme of expression (Fig. 5B and C). Together, these data suggest a negative impact of Cox-2 on HCV replication. Because HCV nonstructural proteins play a critical role in HCV replication (35), we also examined the expression of one of the nonstructural proteins, NS5A, encoded by HCV subgenomic replicon RNA in the presence of Cox-2 inhibitors. We observed that the addition of Cox-2 inhibitors (celecoxib and NS-398) enhanced the levels of NS5A protein expression, suggesting that Cox-2 down-regulates HCV gene expression and replication (Fig. 5 D, compare lanes 3 and 4 with lane 2). These data collectively implicate a potential role of activated Cox-2 and PGE2 in the regulation of HCV RNA translation and replication.