Evaluation of COX-2 Expression in Colorectal Carcinoma in Patients Undergoing Colectomy in Ahvaz Imam Khomeini Hospital

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of COX2 protein in patients with colorectal carcinoma in order to better understand the pathophysiology and behavior of inflammatory factors in this disease.

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, tissue paraffin blocks of patients referring to Imam Khomeini teaching hospitals with pathological diagnosis of colorectal cancer were evaluated. Clinical and demographic data of patients were extracted from hospital records. Anti Cox2 monoclonal antibody was used for immunohistochemical staining.

In this study, 31 patients with colorectal cancer (mean age 65.1 (range 33 to 89)) were evaluated. Most tumors had grade G2 (54.8%). Tumor stage pt3 was also seen in more than half of cases. Lymph node involvement was observed in 29% of cases. The mean staining area was 34.6% (range 2 to 78%). More than half of the patients showed moderate marker expression and 6.5% had a strong positive reaction. However, 16.1% of patients were negative for Cox2 marker. We have failed to find any significant correlation of stage, grade and lymph node involvement with Cox2 expression status.

The findings of this study indicate that more than 70% of colorectal malignant tissues express Cox2 marker. However, Cox2 marker expression had no significant association with pathologic variables such as tumor grade, stage and extent of metastasis to the surrounding lymph nodes.