Cyclooxygenase-2 expression after preoperative chemoradiotherapy correlates with more frequent esoph

• 作 者: Reigetsu Yoshikawa Yoshinori Fujiwara Kenji Koishi Syoudou Kojima Tomohiro Matsumoto Hidenori Yanagi Takehira Yamamura Tomoko Hashimoto-Tamaoki Takashi Nishigami Tohru Tsujimura
• 机 构: Second Department of Surgery, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan“,”Instit
• 出 处: 世界胃肠病学杂志（英文版）
• 发表日期: 2007年16期
• 关键词: Chemoradiotherapy Cyclooxygenase-2 Esophageal cancer Metastasis Vascular endothe

AIM: To investigate the relationship between cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and to determine the clinical significance of this relationship in esophageal cancer patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT).METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining was used to evaluate COX-2 and VEGF expression in 40 patients with histologically-confirmed esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESCC) who were undergoing preoperative CRT.RESULTS: Fourteen out of 40 ESCC patients showed a pathological complete response (CR) after CRT. COX-2 and VEGF protein expressions were observed in the cytoplasm of 17 and 13 tumors, respectively, with null expression in 9 and 13 tumors, respectively. COX-2 expression was strongly correlated with VEGF expression (P ＜ 0.05). There were also significant associations between COX-2 expression, tumor recurrence, and lymph-node involvement (P = 0.0277 and P = 0.0095, respectively). COX-2 expression and VEGF expression had significant prognostic value for disease-free survival (log-rank test; P = 0.0073 and P = 0.0341, respectively), but not for overall survival, as assessed by univariate analysis.CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that COX-2 expression correlates with VEGF expression and might be a useful prognostic factor for more frequent tumor recurrence in ESCC patients undergoing neoadjuvant CRT. These findings support the use of anti-angiogenic COX-2 inhibitors in the treatment of ESCC.