Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2015; 21(20): 6206-6214
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i20.6206
Expression of COX-2 and HER-2 in colorectal cancer and their correlation
Qi-Bing Wu, Guo-Ping Sun
Qi-Bing Wu, Department of Radiotherapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, Anhui Province, China
Guo-Ping Sun, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Wu QB designed and performed research, analyzed data and wrote the paper; and Sun GP designed and contributed new reagents or analytic tools.
Ethics approval: The study was reviewed and approved by the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University Institutional Review Board.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Guo-Ping Sun, PhD, Professor, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 218 Jixi Road, Shushan District, Hefei 230022, Anhui Province, China. sunguoping@ahmu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-551-62923506
Received: October 10, 2014
Peer-review started: October 10, 2014
First decision: November 14, 2014
Revised: January 31, 2015
Accepted: March 30, 2015
Article in press: March 31, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Processing time: 231 Days and 20 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To detect the expression of COX-2 and HER-2 in colorectal cancer and to analyze their correlation and clinical significance.

METHODS: A total of 1026 colorectal cancer surgical specimens were collected from patients treated from December 2002 to December 2007 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. All specimens were made into 4-μm slices. The expression of COX-2 and HER-2 were detected by immunohistochemistry using the streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase method. The correlations between COX-2 and HER-2 expression and colorectal cancer clinical features were analyzed.

RESULTS: The positive rates of COX-2 and HER-2 expression in colorectal cancer were 77.97% (800/1026) and 46.20% (474/1026), respectively. There was a significant correlation between COX-2 and HER-2 expression in colorectal cancer (P < 0.05). In patients with tumor size ≥ 5 cm, the positive rates of COX-2 and HER-2 expression were 81.48% (308/378) and 57.94% (219/378), respectively. In patients with serosal invasion, the positive COX-2 and HER-2 expression rates were 80.53% (612/760) and 49.21% (374/760), respectively. In patients with lymph node metastasis, the positive expression rates were 85.04% (506/595) and 54.62% (325/595), respectively, and the positive expression rates differed significantly between patients with lymph node metastasis and those without (P < 0.05). In patients with Duke’s C and D colorectal cancer, the positive COX-2 and HER-2 expression rates were 82.80% (443/535) and 57.94% (310/535), respectively. In patients with poorly differentiated colorectal cancer, the positive expression rates were 74.49% (210/282) and 52.84% (149/282), respectively (P < 0.05). In patients with distant metastasis, the positive expression rates were 82.27% (116/141) and 53.90% (76/141), respectively (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that COX-2 and HER-2 have synergistic effects in colorectal cancer. COX-2 and HER-2 expression had no significant correlation with sex, age, or tumor location.

CONCLUSION: COX-2 and HER-2 are important markers for invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer, and they act together to regulate the invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Correlation; COX-2; HER-2; Immunohistochemistry; Survival rate

Core tip: The relationship between and expression of COX-2 and HER-2 in colorectal cancer have not been fully elucidated. In this study, the expression of COX-2 and HER-2 was assessed in colorectal cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry, and the correlations between COX-2 and HER-2 expression and colorectal cancer clinical features were evaluated. Results demonstrated that COX-2 and HER-2 expression are significantly associated with serosal invasion, lymph node metastasis, Duke’s stage, and poorly differentiated cancer. COX-2 and HER-2 have synergistic effects in colorectal cancer. Both COX-2 and HER-2 are important markers for invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer.