Cancer Res Treat.  2004 Jun;36(3):192-198.

Clinical Value of Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Human Breast Carcinoma

• Ahn JH
• Kim SB
• Ahn SH
• Gong GY
• Ahn MJ
• Kang YK
• Lee JS
• Kim WK

Abstract

PURPOSE
To determine whether COX-2 expression is associated with clinicopathological parameters, including c-erb-B2 overexpression and angiogenesis, and the disease- free survival of patients with operable breast cancer.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Paraffin-embedded tissue samples were selected from 205 patients surgically resected for breast cancer, between 1991 and 1997, and followed- up for at least 4 years. Samples were immunohistochemically stained with antibodies to COX-2, c-erb-B2 and CD34.
RESULTS
COX-2 and c-erb-B2 expressions were detected in 118/205 (57.6%) and 58/205 (28.3%) patients, respectively. COX-2 expression was significantly higher in c-erb-B2 positive than c-erb-B2 negative tumors (75.9% vs. 49.7%, p-value 0.001). COX-2 expression was positively correlated with microvessel count (13.3+/-8.0 vs. 6.6+/-7.0, p-value 0.050), but not with other clinicopathological characteristics, including tumor size, involved axil lary lymph nodes and estrogen or progesterone receptor status. Although COX-2 expression itself was not a prognostic marker, breast cancer patients with tumors that co-expressed both COX-2 and c-erb-B2 had a poorer 5-year disease-free survival rate than those that did not (60.2% vs. 78.3%, p-value 0.0527).
CONCLUSION
Our data suggest that COX-2 expression occurs frequently in c-erb-B2 positive breast cancer, and co-expression of COX-2 and c-erb-B2 may be a useful prognostic marker in patients with operable breast cancer.

Keyword

Breast neoplasm; Cyclooxygenase-2; c-erb-B2; Angiogenesis

MeSH Terms

Antibodies
Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Cyclooxygenase 2*
Disease-Free Survival
Estrogens
Humans*
Lymph Nodes
Microvessels
Receptors, Progesterone
Antibodies
Cyclooxygenase 2
Estrogens
Receptors, Progesterone

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Microphotograph showing COX-2 immunostaining in the breast cancer tissue specimens. Strong (A), moderate (B) and weak (C) immunoreactivities are evident in the neoplastic cells, whereas the stroma is negative (×200).

• 

  Fig. 2 Detection of microvessels in breast cancer tissue by immunohistochemical staining for CD34 (×200).

• 

  Fig. 3 Five-year disease-free survival curve shows that breast cancer with both COX-2 and c-erb-B2 expression has a poorer disease-free survival rate (78.3% vs. 60.2%, p-value 0.0527).

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