Study of COX-2 expression and angiogenesis in non-small cell lung cancer / 中国肺癌杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>In this study the expression of COX-2 both in lung cancer tissues and tissues of benign disease of the lung is compared to explore the effect of COX-2 on occurrence and development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the relationship between COX-2 expression and clinical characteristics of patients with NSCLC.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The COX-2 expression, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and microvessel density (MVD) were detected in 78 NSCLC lung cancer tissues and 14 benign tissues of the lung by immunohistochemical method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Expression of COX-2 protein was significantly higher in cancer tissues (69.2%, 54/78) than paired noncancerous tissues (14.3%, 2/14)(Chi-square=15.044, P < 0.01). There was significant difference of MVD between COX-2 positive lung cancers (19.41±8.56) and negative ones(12.00±5.37)(t=3.906, P < 0.01). There was no significant relationship between COX-2 protein expression and patients' age, sex, TNM stages and smoking status (P > 0.05); for different pathological types, COX-2 protein expression was remarkably higher in adenocarcinoma (88.9%, 32/36) than that in squamous cell carcinoma (50.0%, 20/40) (Chi-square=13.262, P < 0.01); and for squamous cell carcimoma it was significantly higher in low differentiated ones (81.0%, 17/21) than that in high differentiated ones (15.8%, 3/19) (Chi-square=16.942,P < 0.01); for adenocarcinoma it was also remarkably higher in low differentiated ones (100.0%, 18/18) than that in high differentiated ones ( 77.8% , 14/18) (Chi-square=6.046, P < 0.05).The expressions of COX-2 and VEGF in NSCLC were significantly positively correlated (r=0.509, P < 0.01), so were the expressions of VEGF and MVD (r=0.324, P < 0.01), and the expressions of COX-2 and MVD (r=0.477, P < 0.01). Controlling for VEGF, there still was significant correlation between COX-2 and MVD (r=0.383, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The present study suggests that there is overexpression of COX-2 in lung cancer, which is closely related to angiogenesis of lung cancer. Further studies, therefore, are needed to find the exact mechanisms.</p>