title: Prognostic significance of elevated cyclooxygenase 2 expression in primary, resected lung adenocarcinomas.
abstract: Recently, we demonstrated that elevated expression of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) is frequently seen in a specific type of lung cancer, i.e., adenocarcinoma, and is possibly associated with its invasion and metastasis. Here, the prognostic significance of elevated COX-2 expression was evaluated in a cohort of 130 adenocarcinoma patients who had consecutively undergone potentially curative resections. Immunohistological examination showed the presence of tumor cells with markedly increased COX-2 immunoreactivity in 93 of 130 (72%) cases. No relationship was found between the increase in COX-2 expression and clinical outcomes when the entire cohort was considered (P = 0.099). Reasoning that the influence of the increase in COX-2 expression may have been obscured by the clinical and molecular pathogenetic complexities in cases with an advanced disease, we also separately analyzed the prognostic significance of increased COX-2 expression after stratification according to the disease stage. A significant relationship between elevated COX-2 expression and shortened patient survival was observed only in a cohort of patients with stage I disease (P = 0.034). These findings suggest that an increase in COX-2 expression may be clinically significant for the prognosis of patients undergoing surgical resection of early-stage adenocarcinomas and, thus, warrant further conclusive studies involving a larger cohort.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Achiwa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yatabe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuroishi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kozaki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsudomi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; D004790:Enzyme Induction; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D007527:Isoenzymes; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C496540:PTGS2 protein, human; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases