Change of the Invasiveness with Selective Cox-2 Inhibition in an Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Line, KB; Preliminary in Vitro Study

ABSTRACT

Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) is known as one of the critical factor in carcinomas of various organs. However, the importance of Cox-2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma has not been fully described yet. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anti-cancer effect of selective cox-2 inhibitor, celecoxib in an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line, KB with respect to cytotoxicity test, in vitro invasion and MMP-2 expression. In cytotoxicity test, celecoxib treated group showed definitely concentration dependent cytotoxicity. In addition, administration of celecoxib reduced the invasive potential of KB cell line significantly in invasion assay. However, there was no remarkable difference of the MMP-2 expression between the celecoxib treated group and the control group. Considering these data, celecoxib had a potential cytotoxic agent to oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. Also, it had anti-invasive property without acting on the MMP-2 expression mechanism. Therefore, it was postulated that celecoxib had the possibility of anti-cancer agent in treatment strategies of oral squamous cell carcinoma.