Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Development of Compendium for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 12, 2024
Overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 is associated with breast carcinoma and its poor prognostic factors
Jeong Yun Shim1, Hee Jung An, Yong Hee Lee
1Department of Pathology, Bundang CHA Hospital, Pochon CHA University, Sungnam, Korea.
Abstract:
Cyclooxygenase is the rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins. The inducible form, cyclooxygenase-2, is known to be overexpressed in various human cancers including the colon, stomach, and urinary bladder. In this study, we evaluated the overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 in 64 cases of breast cancer and correlated the results with clinicopathologic parameters. Immunohistochemical staining for cyclooxygenase-2 demonstrated positivity of the tumor cells in 46 of 64 cases (72%). Cyclooxygenase-2 overexpression was significantly correlated with larger tumor size and advanced clinical stage. Cyclooxygenase-2 overexpression tended to be more frequently observed in cases with presence of lymph node metastasis and in cases without expression of estrogen and progesterone; however, there was no significant correlation statistically. Nuclear and histologic grade were not well correlated with cyclooxygenase-2 overexpression. When ductal carcinoma in situ was considered separately, 32 of 42 cases (76%) were positive for cyclooxygenase-2. We conclude that cyclooxygenase-2 is up-regulated in a high proportion of breast cancers. The overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 was associated with larger tumor size and advanced clinical stage, although lymph node status, estrogen and progesterone expression, and nuclear and histologic grade were not significantly correlated. Therefore, cyclooxygenase-2 overexpression may be a feature of the aggressive phenotype and may be useful as a prognostic indicator in breast cancer.
Related Concept Videos
Positive Regulator Molecules
Inhibition of Cdk Activity
Mitogens and the Cell Cycle
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
