Pannone G, Sanguedolce F, De Maria S, Farina E, Lo Muzio L, Serpico R, Emanuelli M, Rubini C, De Rosa G, Staibano S, Macchia L, Bufo P
Department of Surgical Sciences, Institute of Pathology and Cytopathology, University of Foggia, Italy.
Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2007 Apr-Jun;20(2):317-24. doi: 10.1177/039463200702000211.
COX-2 expression in tumour cells has been associated with carcinogenesis in many human neoplasms, including head and neck cancer, while the COX-1 isoform of the cyclooxygenase enzyme is constitutively expressed in normal tissues. We measured COX-1 and COX-2 m-RNA expression in samples of both oral cancer and matched oral mucosa from 22 patients by RealTime RT-PCR; clinic pathological data (grading, TNM staging, inflammation, follow-up) of all patients were available for statistical evaluation. Most of the tumor samples in our study expressed at least one cyclooxygenase enzyme (COX-1 or COX-2 mRNA) more than their matched normal oral mucosa (p<0.05), with no correlation with the entity of inflammation, and a significant inverse relationship was found between COX-1 and COX-2 in each sample. Higher levels of COX-2 expression were associated with poor disease-free survival (p<0.05), but not with overall survival and higher tumor stage and grade. Our results suggest that COX-1 may play a role in oral carcinogenesis, and could be regarded as a potential therapeutic target by chemo preventive drugs; moreover, COX-2 expression might be addressed as a new prognostic tool in the clinical management of OSCC.
肿瘤细胞中的COX - 2表达与包括头颈癌在内的许多人类肿瘤的致癌作用相关，而环氧化酶的COX - 1同工型在正常组织中组成性表达。我们通过实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（RealTime RT-PCR）测量了22例患者口腔癌样本及配对口腔黏膜样本中COX - 1和COX - 2的mRNA表达；所有患者的临床病理数据（分级、TNM分期、炎症、随访）可用于统计评估。我们研究中的大多数肿瘤样本表达至少一种环氧化酶（COX - 1或COX - 2 mRNA）的水平高于其配对的正常口腔黏膜（p<0.05），与炎症程度无关，且在每个样本中发现COX - 1和COX - 2之间存在显著的负相关关系。较高水平的COX - 2表达与无病生存期差相关（p<0.05），但与总生存期、较高的肿瘤分期和分级无关。我们的结果表明，COX - 1可能在口腔癌发生中起作用，可被化学预防药物视为潜在的治疗靶点；此外，COX - 2表达可能作为口腔鳞状细胞癌临床管理中的一种新的预后工具。
