Relationship of microvessel density,vascular endothelial growth factor and cyclooxygenase-2 expression in human gastric cancer

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX 2) in gastric cancerand and its relations with the microvessel density (MVD) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). METHODS:The expressions of COX 2, VEGF and MVD were studied by immunohistochemical method. RESULTS:The positive expression rate of COX 2 was 60 5% in gastric carcinoma tissue. It was significantly higher than that in control group. Overexpression of COX 2 in gastric carcinoma was related to its lymph node metastasis but it did not correlate with tumor size,depth of invasion and differentiation degree, P 0 05.The expression conformation rate of COX 2 and VEGF in gastric carcer was 53 5%. There was a positive correlation between expression of COX 2 and VEGF, P 0 01. The MVD values in COX 2 positive(22 08±3 69)and VEGF positive(22 12±3 50)groups was significantly higher than those in COX 2 negative and VEGF negative groups (17 68±3 50,16 15±3 23,respectively, P 0 05), and the MVD value (22 86±3 40, P 0 05) in both COX 2 positive and VEGF positive group was significantly higher than those in the other subgroups.CONCLUSIONS:The COX 2 protein detection,VEGF expression can be considered as biological indicators of malignant potential in gastric cancer. The COX 2 and VEGF expressions, both contributing to the tumor neovascularization, may be helpful in the understanding of intra tumor angiogenetic mechanism in the future.