title: Clinicopathological significance of cyclooxygenase-2 expression in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in normal epithelium, dysplasia and squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx and to investigate associations with clinicopathological factors and survival. Seventy-five patients with hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (HPSCC) who underwent surgical treatment at the Department of Otolaryngology, Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, were investigated. COX-2 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry and 97.3% (73/75) of samples displayed immunostaining in tumor cells. COX-2 staining was localized mainly in the cytoplasm (73/75) and was rare in stromal cells (2/75). Over half of the areas of dysplastic cells adjacent to carcinomas also showed COX-2 staining (41/70, 58.6%). There were no significant correlations between the COX-2 expression and tumor size, location and tumor growth type, T- and N-stage, tumor recurrence, lymph node metastasis and survival in this study. COX-2 expression thus does not appear to have a prognostic significance for hypopharyngeal SCC although there was a tendency for higher values in T3/T4 than T1/T2 cases. Furthermore, COX-2 was found to be more strongly expressed in poorly-differentiated than in moderately/well-differentiated carcinomas. In this study group, COX-2 was up-regulated not only in SCCs but also in the dysplastic lesions of the hypopharynx, suggesting that COX-2 inhibition may be a useful chemopreventive strategy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan. blue@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Rieko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoshikawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Indo
authors.forename: Kunitoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshino
authors.forename: Katsumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imaida
authors.forename: Nozomu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2