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Cyclooxygenase-2
expression in human gliomas: prognostic significance and molecular correlations
Shono
T, Tofilon PJ, Bruner JM, Owolabi O, Lang FF
Department
of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515
Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030-4009, USA
Cyclooxygenase
(COX)-2, the inducible isoform of prostaglandin H synthase, has been implicated
in the growth and progression of a variety of human cancers. Although COX-2
overexpression has been observed in human gliomas, the prognostic or clinical
relevance of this overexpression has not been investigated to date. In addition,
no study has analyzed the relationship between COX-2 expression and other
molecular alterations in gliomas.
Consequently, we examined COX-2 expression by immunohistochemistry in tumor
specimens from 66 patients with low- and high-grade astrocytomas and correlated
the percentage of COX-2 expression with patient survival.
We also analyzed the relative importance of COX-2 expression in comparison with
other clinicopathological features (age and tumor grade) and other molecular
alterations commonly found in gliomas (high MIB-1 level, p53 alteration, loss of
retinoblastoma (Rb) protein or p16, and high bcl-2 level).
Kaplan-Meier analyses demonstrated that high COX-2 expression (>50% of cells
stained positive) correlated with poor survival for the study group as a whole
(P < 0.0001) and for those with glioblastoma multiforme in particular (P <
0.03).
Cox regression analyses demonstrated that COX-2 expression was the strongest
predictor of outcome, independent of all other variables.
In addition, high COX-2 expression correlated with increasing histological grade
but did not correlate with positive p53 immunostaining, bcl-2 expression, loss
of p16 or retinoblastoma protein expression, or high MIB-1 expression.
These findings indicate that high COX-2 expression in tumor cells is associated
with clinically more aggressive gliomas and is a strong predictor of poor
survival.
PMID: 11389063 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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