Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in malignant and benign breast tumors.
Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is reported to play an important role in carcinogenesis. We examined COX-2 expression in patients with breast cancer and benign breast tumors. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a high level of COX-2 expression in malignant lesions of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) at a rate of 40% and a low level of expression in 15% of adjacent normal-appearing breast epithelia. Similarly, in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a high level of COX-2 expression was found in 80% of malignant lesions and a low level of expression in 50% of normal epithelia. Reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) performed in 7 of these cases disclosed that COX-2 expression was restricted to the malignant lesion. Further, all 10 cases of fibroadenoma and 10 cases of intraductal papilloma, both of which are benign tumors, had a high level of COX-2 expression. When overexpression of COX-2 was analyzed in relation to the clinicopathological features of the patients, no characteristic correlation was noted. Our results demonstrated that COX-2 is expressed in mammary tissue during tumorigenesis of the breast gland, suggesting that the cyclooxygenase isoenzyme may be a target for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.
Watanabe
Osamu
O
Department of Surgery, Tokyo Women's Medical University Daini Hospital, Tokyo 116-8567, Japan. watanosu@dnh.twmu.ac.jp
Shimizu
Tadao
T
Imamura
Hiroshi
H
Kinoshita
Jun
J
Utada
Yoshihito
Y
Okabe
Toshihiro
T
Kimura
Kiyomi
K
Hirano
Akira
A
Yoshimatsu
Kazuhiko
K
Aiba
Motohiko
M
Ogawa
Kenji
K
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000201:enzymology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000201:enzymology; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; D005260:Female; D018226:Fibroadenoma / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D018300:Papilloma, Intraductal / Q000201:enzymology; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D007527:Isoenzymes; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C496540:PTGS2 protein, human; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases