Expression and significance of COX-2 and VEGF in osteosarcoma

Objective To investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase 2(COX-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in osteosarcoma and explore the significance.Methods 45 patients with osteosarcoma were treated with amputation or prosthesis replacement.Osteosarcoma and corresponding adjacent(5.0 cm at the outer edge of the tumor tissue) tissue samples were obtained during operation.The expression of COX-2,VEGF and MVD marked by CD34 of osteosarcoma and their adjacent tissues were detected by immuno histochemistry.Results The positive rates of COX-2,VEGF and MVD in osteosarcoma tissues were 80.0%,75.6% and(43.6±11.4)stripe/HP,respectively,which were higher than those in adjacent tissues(P all 0.05).In patients with osteosarcoma,the expression of COX-2,VEGF and MVD were associated with Enneking stage(P all 0.05).There was a positive relationship between the expression of COX-2 and VEGF,the expression of COX-2 and VEGF were positively correlated with MVD(r=0.75,0.58,respectively,P all 0.05).The MVD values in both COX-2 and VEGF positive samples were higher than those in COX-2 negative and VEGF negative samples(P0.05).Conclusions COX-2 and VEGF are highly expressed in osteosarcoma and expression of them are associated with surgical stage of osteosarcoma,may involved in the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma,the mechanism maybe contributing to angiogenesis in osteosarcoma.