Augmented Activity of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Tissue and Serum of Patients With Cervical Cancer.
BACKGROUND
Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) is frequently overexpressed in cervical carcinoma, but little is known about its altered serum concentration. Hence, this study evaluates clinical utility of cellular and serum level of Cox-2 enzyme in cervical cancer.


METHODS
The expression of Cox-2 was evaluated in cervical tissues and serum samples collected from normal controls (n = 100; n = 68), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia patients (CIN, n = 67; n = 12), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma patients (SCCs; n = 153; n = 127) by immunohistochemical and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyses.


RESULTS
The significant cytoplasmic overexpression of Cox-2 was noted in 50.7% of CIN and 69.9% of SCCs as compared with normal (P = 0.0001). Serum level of Cox-2 was also found to be elevated both in CIN (median 4.35 ng/ml) and in SCCs (median 19.39 ng/ml) with respect to normal (median 0.44 ng/ml; P = 0.0001), respectively. The ROC analysis revealed the potential of serum Cox-2 over its cellular expression to distinguish CIN and SCCs from normal.


CONCLUSIONS
Augmented Cox-2 activity is implicated in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer, and its serum level could serve a potential to distinguish this malignancy. Therefore, it is suggested that serum Cox-2 may be useful in monitoring the diagnosis and treatment outcome of patients.
Department of Anatomy, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Poonam
P
Jawanjal
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Sudha
S
Salhan
Department of Histopathology, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Indrani
I
Dhawan
Department of Radiotherapy, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Nirmalendu
N
Das
Department of Anatomy, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Ruby
R
Aggarwal
Division of Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry, Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology (ICPO), ICMR, Noida, India.
Richa
R
Tripathi
Department of Anatomy, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India. gayatrirathvmmc@gmail.com, poonamrnirmal@gmail.com.
Gayatri
G
Rath
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000378:metabolism*; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2
Cox-2; cervical cancer; cervical intraepithelial neoplasia; invasive squamous cell carcinoma