Coordinated Increased Expression of Cyclooxygenase2 and Nuclear Factor κB Is a Steady Feature of Urinary Bladder Carcinogenesis

OBJECTIVES The inescapable relationship between chronic inflammation and carcinogenesis has long been established. Our objective was to investigate COX-2 and NF-κB immunohistochemical expression in a large series of normal epithelium and bladder carcinomas. METHODS Immunohistochemical methodology was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections from urinary bladder carcinomas of 140 patients (94 males and 46 females with bladder carcinomas). RESULTS COX-2 expression is increased in the cytoplasm of bladder cells, during loss of cell differentiation (r(s) = 0.61, P-value < .001) and in muscle invasive carcinomas (P-value < .001). A strong positive association between tumor grade and nuclear expression of NFκB has been established. A positive correlation between COX-2 and nuclear NFκB immunoreactivity was observed. CONCLUSIONS The possible coordinated upregulation of NFκB and COX-2, during bladder carcinogenesis, indicates that agents inhibitors of these two molecules may represent a possible new treatment strategy, by virtue of their role in bladder carcinogenesis.