COX-2 expression and significance in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the biological significance of COX-2 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.METHODS:The expression of COX-2 was detected in 90 nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and 22 nasopharyngitis tissues by SP immunohistochemical method.RESULT:The positive expression rate of COX-2 protein in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues was 67.78%(61/90), and 36.36%(8/22) in nasopharyngitis tissues, and the difference was significant (χ2 =7.38,P=0.01). The ratio of COX-2 expression was 83.8% in patients with the lymth nodes stage of N2 and N3,which was significantly different from that of 54.2% in N0 and N1 (χ2=10.23,P=0.017). The expression of COX-2 gene was not related to age,gender, the clinical stages, T stages and distant metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with radiotherapy(P0.05).CONCLUSIONS: There is a high expression of COX-2 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues, which might be an important event in the pathogenesis and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but it can not be a target of evaluating primary efficacy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with radiotherapy.