Elevated cyclooxygenase-2 expression correlates with distant metastases in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) overexpression clearly plays an important role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. In this study, we analysed the relationship between COX-2 expression and various clinicopathological factors in human breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Using immunohistochemistry, we analysed archival specimens of human breast cancer (n=29) using antibodies to COX-2, ER, PgR and HER2 and, from medical records, obtained clinicopathological data. RESULTS We observed a significant association between COX-2 overexpression and distant metastasis. COX-2 expression was not significantly associated with any other clinical or pathological variable. CONCLUSION These findings lend support to the hypothesis that COX-2 overexpression represents an adverse prognostic event in human breast cancer and are encouraging for proposed strategies of COX-2 suppression to treat the disease.