RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: A large body of evidence suggests that cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) is important in tumorigenesis of gastrointestinal cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine whether COX-2 was also expressed in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN) and invasive cervical carcinoma. METHODS: We studied the expression of COX-2 in normal cervix(n=6), CIN I(n=4), CIN II(n=2), CIN III(n=15), microinvasive carcinoma(n=5) and invasive carcinoma(n=7) by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: We observed strong COX-2 expression in 16.7% of the normal cervix, 0% of the CIN I and II, 80.0% of CIN III, 60.0% of microinvasive carcinoma and 71.4% of invasive carcinoma. The intensity of immunostaining was stronger in the CIN III and invasive cancer than the normal cervix and CIN I lesions(p<0.01). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that COX-2 may have a role in carcinogenesis of CIN and may be a target for the prevention or treatment of CIN and invasive cervical cancer.