TY - JOUR T1 - Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Human Gastric Tubular Adenomas and Carcinomas; Correlation with Intratumoral Microvessel Density and Apoptotic Index JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 1439 LP - 1444 VL - 24 IS - 3A AU - SOICHIRO HONJO AU - SATORU KASE AU - MITSUHIKO OSAKI AU - TONANG DWI ARDYANTO AU - NOBUAKI KAIBARA AU - HISAO ITO Y1 - 2004/05/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/24/3A/1439.abstract N2 - Background: Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 plays an important role in carcinogenesis in various human malignancies. This study examined the relationship among COX-2 expression, angiogenesis and apoptosis in human gastric adenoma and carcinoma. Materials and Methods: We examined the expression of COX-2 in 30 tubular adenomas and 111 carcinomas, comparing it with intratumoral microvessel density (IMVD) and apoptotic index (AI) by immunohistochemistry and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP-digoxygenin nick-end labeling (TUNEL) procedure. Results: Immunohistochemistry demonstrated positive expression of COX-2 in 15 (50.0%) adenomas and in 50 (53.1%) carcinomas, respectively. The frequency of COX-2 expression was signficantly higher in intestinal-type carcinomas than in diffuse-type, regardless of the tumor stage. The IMVD was significantly higher in the early and advanced carcinomas than in the adenomas and also higher in the COX-2-positive adenomas and carcinomas than in the negative ones. The AI was significantly higher in the adenomas than in the carcinomas and also in the COX-2-negative adenomas and intestinal-type early carcinomas than in their positive counterparts, respectively (p<0.05). The IMVD and AI showed significant inverse correlation in both the adenomas (p=0.02, r=-0.64) and carcinomas (p=0.04, r=-0.18). Conclusion: COX-2 expression might be an early event in gastric tumorigenesis and provide a preferential advantage for tumor cell proliferation because of its vascular-rich micro-environment and escape from tumor cell apoptosis, especially in intestinal-type gastric carcinomas. Copyright© 2004 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved ER -