Over-expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in human prostate adenocarcinoma.
Aberrant or increased expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases including carcinogenesis. COX-2 has been shown to be over-expressed in some human cancers. Employing semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry we assessed COX-2 expression in samples of pair-matched benign and cancer tissue obtained from the same prostate cancer patient. Mean levels of COX-2 mRNA were 3.4-fold higher in prostate cancer tissue (n = 12) compared with the paired benign tissue. The immunoblot analysis demonstrated that as compared to benign tissue COX-2 protein was over-expressed in 10 of 12 samples examined. Immunohistochemical analysis also verified COX-2 over-expression in cancer than in benign tissue. To our knowledge, this is the first in vivo study showing an over-expression of COX-2 in prostate cancer. These data suggest that COX-2 inhibitors may be useful for prevention or therapy of prostate cancer in humans.
Gupta
S
S
Department of Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA.
Srivastava
M
M
Ahmad
N
N
Bostwick
D G
DG
Mukhtar
H
H
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology*; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011467:Prostate / Q000201:enzymology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology*; D012016:Reference Values; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D007527:Isoenzymes; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C496540:PTGS2 protein, human; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases