expression of cyclooxygenase 2 in invasive breast carcinomas and its prognostic impact

• DOI: 10.14670/hh-27.1315
• Publication Date: 2012-01-01
• Authors: Hari Prasad Dhakal; Assia Bassarova; Rolf Kaaresen; Elin Borgen; Marit Synnestvedt; Bjørn Naume; Gro Wiedswang; Karl-Erik Giercksky; Ruth Holm; Jahn M. Nesland; Ellen Schlichting
• Keywords: :5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::57 - Biología [CDU]; Breast Neoplasms; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; CDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::57 - Biología; Prognosis; Immunohistochemistry; Breast cancer; Receptors, Estrogen; Cyclooxygenase 2; Biomarkers, Tumor; Humans; Female; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Receptors, Progesterone

Representative tumour sections from 468 patients with invasive breast cancer were immunostained for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and evaluated. The relationships between COX-2 expression, clinical outcome and various clinicopathological variables, including tumour vascularity and disseminated tumour cells (DTC) in the bone marrow were examined. COX-2 expression in invasive breast carcinoma cells was positively associated with oestrogen receptor and/or progesterone receptor positivity (p<0.001). Triple-negative tumours showed no/low COX-2 expression more frequently than other tumour types (p<0.001). Expression of COX-2 was not associated with breast cancer-specific survival (p=0.49, log-rank) or distant disease-free survival (p=0.67, log-rank) for all patients, including lymph node-negative, untreated patients (p>0.14, log-rank). There was also no significant association between COX-2 expression and histological grade, tumour size, nodal status, DTC in bone marrow, p53, HER2, or tumour vascularity. In conclusion, COX-2 expression in this series was associated with the presence of hormone receptors. Low COX-2 expression was observed in triple-negative breast carcinomas.