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. 2005 Jun;37(3):165-70.
doi: 10.4143/crt.2005.37.3.165. Epub 2005 Jun 30.

Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in human breast cancer: relationship with HER-2/neu and other clinicopathological prognostic factors

Eunmi Nam  1 , Soon Nam Lee, Seock-Ah Im, Do-Yeun Kim, Kyoung Eun Lee, Sun Hee Sung
Affiliations

Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in human breast cancer: relationship with HER-2/neu and other clinicopathological prognostic factors

Eunmi Nam et al. Cancer Res Treat. 2005 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Previous epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce the risk of breast cancer, and this possibly happens via cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition. Moreover, growth factor-inducible COX-2, which is overexpressed in neoplastic tissue, is an attractive therapeutic target. Thus, we evaluated the expression of COX-2 in breast cancer tissues, and we assessed the association between COX-2 expression and HER-2/neu expression and also with several clinicopathological features.

Materials and methods: We analyzed the surgical specimens from 112 women with breast cancer who had undergone lumpectomy or mastectomy. The expressions of COX-2, HER-2/neu, MMP-2 and TIMP-2 were determined immunohistochemically. The correlations between COX-2 expression and several variables, including clinicopathological factors, HER-2/neu expression, MMP-2 expression and TIMP-2 expression were analyzed. Survival analysis was also performed with respect to COX-2 overexpression.

Results: The overexpression of COX-2 protein was observed in 28.6% of the breast cancer tissues. Tumors with lymph node metastasis more frequently showed COX-2 overexpression than did those tumors without metastasis (p=0.039), and the increased COX-2 expression correlated positively with HER-2/neu overexpression (p=0.000). No significant differences were found for the MMP-2 or TIMP-2 expression rates in the COX-2 positive and negative groups. The survival analysis revealed no significant differences according to the COX-2 expression.

Conclusion: This study results suggest that increased COX-2 expression is related with the progression of breast cancer, e.g., with lymph node invasion. COX-2 overexpression found to be related with HER-2/neu overexpression, but not with MMP-2 or TIMP-2 expression. These results support the potential use of selective agents that inhibit COX-2 or HER-2/neu for the management of breast cancer.

Keywords: Cyclooxygenase-2; HER-2/neu; Human breast cancer.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
COX-2 immunohistochemical staining in breast cancer tissue. (A) weak (score 1), (B) moderate (score 2), (C) strong (score 3) immunoreactivity was observed in the cytoplasm of tumor cells.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Disease free survival (A) and overall survival (B) according to COX-2 overexpression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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