COX-2 expression in human breast carcinomas: correlation with clinicopathological features and prognostic molecular markers

Abstract

COX-2 immune positivity and percentage of positive cells correlated significantly with the size, grading, extent of primary tumour and vascular invasion of carcinoma but not with biological parameters (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human EGF receptor 2). The findings of the present study suggest that COX-2 overexpression in lobular and ductal breast cancers, which correlates with traditional clinico-pathological parameters, may be considered as a negative prognostic marker.

Presence and Quantity of COX-2 in Lymph Node Metastases of Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

“…Further, our data suggests not only a negative correlation of COX-2 expression in primary tumor to patients' overall prognosis in HNSCC, but also for COX-2 expression in metastatic lymph nodes to patients' overall prognosis. An overexpression of COX-2 has been reported previously for many various tumor types, including HNSCC [6][7][8]. In some of these malignancies, overexpression of COX-2 is associated with poor prognosis and low survival rate [21,22].…”

“…It is reported to be predominantly induced and activated in numerous pathological conditions, such as inflammation and cancer [4,5]. It has been revealed from various studies that COX-2 is overexpressed in numerous human tumors, including HNSCC [6][7][8]. Further, COX-2 seems to play an important role in carcinogenesis and tumor progression, as it has been shown to be upregulated in transformed cells, premalignant as well as malignant lesions [9].…”

COX-2 expression correlation with invasion in human breast carcinomas and in cell line MDA-MB-231 in vitro

“…COX-2 is an inducible enzyme that interferes with tumor development and angiogenesis, related to the inhibition of apoptosis through inhibition of the proapoptotic Bax protein and overexpression of the antiapoptotic bcl-2 protein. COX-2 catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid to PGE2 and enhances the metastatic phenotype of both breast cancer cells in vitro and breast tumors (Mitchell et al, 2010;Miglietta et al, 2010). PGE2, the catalytic product of COX-2, may promote tumor development and angiogenesis (Boland et al, 2004;Miglietta et al, 2010;Yu et al, 2014).…”

“…COX-2 catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid to PGE2 and enhances the metastatic phenotype of both breast cancer cells in vitro and breast tumors (Mitchell et al, 2010;Miglietta et al, 2010). PGE2, the catalytic product of COX-2, may promote tumor development and angiogenesis (Boland et al, 2004;Miglietta et al, 2010;Yu et al, 2014). It has been investigated in several human cancers and also correlated with the evolution of the disease (Boland et al, 2004).…”

“…Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with multiple genetic alterations able to affect tumor growth, progression and metastasis. However, the pathogenesis of breast cancer is not fully clear, studies have shown that the proliferation and metastasis of breast cancer cells is a very complex, multistep process, affected by various factors including the common role of environmental, genetic and so on (Miglietta et al, 2010). The findings of the present study suggest that the increased expression of COX-2 and HIF-1 , VEGF and MVD-CD105 positively expressive correlation played an important role in the development of breast cancer and might be responsible for the enhanced activity in tumor-induced neovascularization, invasion and metastasis.…”