Expression and Significance of Cyclooxygenase-2 Protein and P-glycoprotein in Gastric Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) in gastric carcinoma and its influence on the expression of P-glycoprotein.Methods The expression of COX-2 and P-glycoprotein was examined by immunohistochemical staining in 48 cases of gastric carcinoma and 10 cases of normal controls.Results COX-2 was not expressed in normal gastric tissue.The positive expression rate of COX-2 was 60.4%(29/48) in gastric carcinoma.The expression of COX-2 was correlated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis(P0.05).The expression rate of P-glycoprotein was 82.8 %(24/29) in COX-2 positive-expression group.P-glycoprotein was not expressed in 63.2%(12/19) of COX-2 negative-expression group.The expression of COX-2 was significantly correlated with the expression of P-glycoprotein(γ=0.470,P0.01).Conclusion COX-2 expression is involved in the carcinogenesis and development of gastric carcinoma.It may also play a role in the regulation of multidrug-resistant(MDR) in gastric carcinoma through interfering in the P-glycoprotein expression.