Evaluation of Cox-2 expression in human gastrocarcinoma cells

Gastrointestinal cancers are among the most common causes of death worldwide. Studies have shown that the cyclooxygenase enzyme plays an important role in the development of gastrointestinal cancers and increases the level of this enzyme in gastrointestinal cancers.

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of Cox-2 in human gastrocarcinoma cells.

In this case-control study, 30 samples of gastro-carcinoma tissues and 30 healthy surrounding tissues as control were obtained by the surgeon from the Imam Khomeini Hospital's surgery department. Characteristics of cancerous tissues including lymph node invasion, tumor size, stage of disease, vascular invasion and grade of disease were recorded. Real Time PCR reaction was performed using primer design and cDNA synthesis, and Bio-RAD was used to determine the Cox-2 gene expression. The results were analyzed by linReg PCR software and ultimately gene expression was analyzed by Rest 2009 software.

The Cox-2 expression was increased in tumor samples in compared to normal samples, significantly (p<0.05). There were significant and positive correlations between Cox-2 expression and tumor size (p <0.01), lymphatic invasion (p<0.01) and tumor stage (p<0.05).

Considering the increased expression of cyclooxygenase 2 in human gastro-carcinoma cells, insignificantly, and the relationship between expression of Cox-2 and various parameters of cancer, it seems that Cox-2 expression levels should be further investigated in future research by selecting tumor samples at the same stages.