Elevated expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in breast cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ has no correlation with established prognostic markers

✍ Scribed by Gurpreet Singh Ranger; Andrew Jewell; Valerie Thomas; Kefah Mokbel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 139 KB
• Volume: 88
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4790
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.20142

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Background and Objectives

Elevated expression of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) has been established to be a feature of breast cancer. There has been inconsistency in the literature regarding the precise significance of this—some studies have found no clinicopathological relevance at all, whilst others have concluded COX‐2 expression is an important biomarker in invasive disease and pre‐cancerous lesions, correlating with poor prognostic features. We studied COX‐2 expression in invasive ductal cancer (IDC) specimens and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in order to clarify these issues.

Method

Archival specimens of IDC and DCIS (n = 39) were stained with a polyclonal antibody to COX‐2. Results were correlated with recognised clinicopathological parameters.

Results

COX‐2 expression occurred in 36.7% of IDCs and 54.5% of DCIS lesions. There was no correlation between increased expression and any clinicopathological features. COX‐2 expression did not occur in adjacent non‐cancerous tissue (ANCT).

Conclusion

We have confirmed that COX‐2 expression does occur in invasive cancers, in DCIS, and is not associated with established prognostic markers. The presence of COX‐2 expression in DCIS and invasive cancers has positive implications for the future prevention and treatment of breast cancer with COX‐2 inhibitors. A large proportion of tumours are, however, COX‐2 negative and may be poor candidates for COX‐2 suppression. J. Surg. Oncol. 2004;88:100–103. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.