Research Article - Journal of Molecular Oncology Research (2022) Volume 6, Issue 6

Validity and impact of COX-2 "Cyclooxygenase-2" in breast cancer.

Background: Breast carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor and the leading cause of carcinoma deaths in women. Its etiology is multifactorial, including reproductive factors, hormonal imbalances and genetic predispositions. According to many studies Cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2) plays an important role in the carcinogenesis and increased expression has been regarded as a poor prognostic factor.

Objective: The objective of our study is to evaluate COX-2 expression in breast cancer comparing two different scoring system.

Methods: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks were studied for COX-2 expression by immunohistochemistry in 100 patients diagnosed as breast carcinoma. Two different scoring system were applied. The relationship between COX-2 expression and various clinico-pathological parameters was studied.

Results: The results of our study suggest an association of the expression of COX-2 to the poor prognostic factors in breast cancer, such as larger tumor size, positive lymph node status, higher T stage and N stage, hormonal status and HER-2/NEU status as studying the association between COX-2 protein expression and different clinco-pathologic features revealed that larger tumor size (>5) and lymph node metastasis showed statistical significant association with COX2 protein expression (p=0.014 and p=0.031, respectively). While rest of clinico-pathologic features such as age, stage, hormonal receptor status and histopathologic features showed no statistical significant association. However, Studying the association between COX-2 protein expression using H-score and clinico-pathological characteristics revealed that The median H-score of COX-2 protein expression was higher in her-2/neu positive cases compared to her2/neu negative cases and that was statistically significant with a p value (p=0.023). Also, statistical significant association was found between hormonal receptor status and median H-score of COX-2 protein expression (p=0.029).

Conclusion: Applying different scoring system resulted in different significant data. Therefore, standardized scoring system for COX-2 protein expression should be developed.

Author(s): Fatma Z Abd Elrahman*, Adel Gabr1, Amen H Zaky, Ashraf Zedan, Tarek M Elsaba2

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