Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of cyclooxygenase-2 expression in head and neck cancer: A meta-analysis.
Several studies have assessed the clinicopathological and prognostic value of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), but their results remain controversial. To address this issue, a meta-analysis was carried out. A total of 29 studies involving 2430 patients were subjected to final analysis. Our results indicated that COX-2 expression was not statistically associated with advanced tumor stage (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.98-1.55) but correlated with high risk of lymph node metastasis (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.03-1.60) and advanced TNM stage (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.06-1.66). Moreover, COX-2 expression had significant effect on poor OS (HR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.29-2.90), RFS (HR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.00-4.08) and DFS (HR, 5.14; 95% CI, 2.84-9.31). The results of subgroup analyses revealed that COX-2 expression was related with high possibility of lymph node metastasis in oral cancer (OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.01-2.20) and advanced TNM stage in oral cancer (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.05-2.37) and no site-specific HNC (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.02-2.62). However, subgroup analyses only showed a tendency without statistically significant association between COX-2 expression and survival. Significant heterogeneity was not found when analyzing clinicopathological data, but it appeared when considering survival data. No publication bias was detected in this study. This meta-analysis suggested that COX-2 expression could act as a prognostic factor for patients with HNC.
Department of Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.
Bin
B
Yang
Department of Nephrology, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Wuhan, Hubei 430014, China.
Lin
L
Jia
Department of Radiation Oncology, Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital, Provincial Clinical College of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350000, China.
Qiaojuan
Q
Guo
Department of Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.
Hui
H
Ren
Department of Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.
Yanping
Y
Hu
Department of Radiation Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.
Tao
T
Xie
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C496540:PTGS2 protein, human
biomarker; cyclooxygenase-2; head and neck cancer; meta-analysis; prognosis