The role of Cyclooxygenase-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor-C in lymphatic metastasis of breast cancer

Objective: To investigate the expression of Cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) proteins,and their relationship with lymphatic metastasis of breast cancer.Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of COX-2 and VEGF-C proteins in 45 cases of breast cancer.The relationship was analyzed between the expression of VEGF-C,COX-2 and age,tumor size,the protein expression of estrogen receptor(ER) and progesterone receptor(PR),clinic phase,axillary lymph node metastasis.Results: The expression rates of COX-2 and VEGF-C in Ⅲ and Ⅳ stages of breast cancer were higher than those ofⅠand Ⅱ stages(P 0.05).There was higher expression in the positive group of axillary lymphnode metastasis than that in the negtive group(P 0.05).However,there were no correlations with ages,tumor size,ER and PR,etc.The expression rate of VEGF-C in the COX-2-positive group was higher than that in the negtive group,which were 76.2% vs 43.6%,respectively(P 0.05).The expression of COX-2 and VEGF-C in breast cancer showed a positive correlation(r=0.579,P 0.05) Conclusions: In breast cancer,The expression of COX-2 is significantly associated with clinic stage and axillary lymph node metastasis,and COX-2 could promote tumor cells to secrate VEGF-C and then accelerate lymphatic metastasis.