Musalam Adel, Andarawi Mohamed, Osman Mohamed, Al-Shriam Mubarak, Elrefaie Amany, Mahfouz Ahmed A, Hussein Mahmoud-Rezk A
Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, King Khalid University Saudi Arabia.
Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University Saudi Arabia.
Am J Transl Res. 2019 Mar 15;11(3):1653-1667. eCollection 2019.
Altered expression of the pro-inflammatory enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, E-Cadherin cell-cell adhesion protein and Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2/neu, a proto-oncogene) are involved in the pathogenesis of several cancers including the prostatic adenocarcinoma (PRCa). However, to date the results of the previous studies in this neoplasm are controversial, and the relationships among expression of these molecules in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and PRCa are mostly unknown. We hypothesize that "there are alterations of COX-2, HER-2/neu and E-Cadherin protein expression in PRCa". We carried out this study to test our hypothesis and to assess the relationships among these molecules both in PRCa and BPH. We used immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression of these proteins in the tissue specimens of both BPH (27 cases) and PRCa (45 cases). Immunohistochemical staining patterns verified over-expression of COX-2 and HER-2/neu proteins in PRCa as compared to BPH. Alternatively, there was an aberrant (reduced) E-Cadherin protein expression in PRCa. There were weak positive correlations between COX-2 versus HER-2/neu expression. A weak negative correlation was noted between COX-2 and E-Cadherin expression. In conclusion, there were alterations of COX-2, HER-2/neu and E-Cadherin proteins in PRCa. The molecular alterations of the relevant genes and the therapeutic ramifications (the development of selective inhibitors to COX-2 and HER-2/neu) of these preliminary findings are open to further investigations.
促炎酶环氧合酶（COX）-2、E-钙黏蛋白（一种细胞间黏附蛋白）以及人表皮生长因子受体2（HER-2/neu，一种原癌基因）表达的改变参与了包括前列腺腺癌（PRCa）在内的多种癌症的发病机制。然而，迄今为止，此前针对这种肿瘤的研究结果存在争议，而且这些分子在良性前列腺增生（BPH）和PRCa中的表达关系大多尚不明确。我们假设“PRCa中存在COX-2、HER-2/neu和E-钙黏蛋白蛋白表达的改变”。我们开展本研究以检验我们的假设，并评估这些分子在PRCa和BPH中的关系。我们采用免疫组织化学方法评估这些蛋白在BPH（27例）和PRCa（45例）组织标本中的表达。免疫组织化学染色模式证实，与BPH相比，PRCa中COX-2和HER-2/neu蛋白表达过度。另外，PRCa中存在E-钙黏蛋白蛋白表达异常（降低）。COX-2与HER-2/neu表达之间存在弱正相关。COX-2与E-钙黏蛋白表达之间存在弱负相关。总之，PRCa中存在COX-2、HER-2/neu和E-钙黏蛋白蛋白的改变。这些初步发现中相关基因的分子改变以及治疗意义（COX-2和HER-2/neu选择性抑制剂的研发）有待进一步研究。
