title: Expression of cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 in normal and pathological human oral mucosa.
abstract: Cyclooxigenase (COX) is the rate-limiting enzyme for the conversion of arachidonic acid (AA) to prostaglandins (PGs). Two isoforms of COX have been identified: COX-1 is constitutively expressed in many cells and is involved in cell homeostasis, angiogenesis and cell-cell signalling; COX-2 is not expressed in normal condition however it is strongly expressed in inflammation. The oral cavity is constantly exposed to physical and chemical trauma that could lead to mucosal reactions such as hyperplasia, dysplasia and cancer. Early diagnosis is the most important issue to address for a positive outcome of oral cancer; therefore it would be useful to identify molecular markers whose expression is associated with the various stages of oral cancer progression. Since COX enzyme has been involved, with different mechanisms, in the development and progression of malignancies we decided to investigate the expression and localization of COX-1 and COX-2 in normal human oral mucosa and three different pathologies (hyperplasia, dysplasia and carcinoma) by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. COX-1 mRNA and protein have been detected already in normal oral mucosa and their expression progressively increases from normal samples towards hyperplasia, dysplasia and finally carcinoma. On the contrary, COX-2 is not expressed in the normal tissue, starts to be expressed in hyperplasia, reaches the maximum activation in dysplasia and then starts to be downregulated in carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: BioNec, Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche, Facoltŕ di Medicina e Chirurgia, Universitŕ di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mauro
authors.forename: Luana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lipari
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tortorici
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Burruano
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Provenzano
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gerbino
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buscemi
mesh_terms: D051545:Cyclooxygenase 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D051545:Cyclooxygenase 1; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C496511:PTGS1 protein, human; C496540:PTGS2 protein, human