The Ship Between The Expression Of Cyclooxygenase-2 And Bcl-2 And The Biological Behavior Of Human Pancreatic Cancer

Objective To investigate the expression of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and Bcl-2 protein in different pancreatic tissues in order to explore their role in development of pancreatic cancer and their relationship with the biological behavior of pancreatic carcinomas.Methods Immunohistochemistry staining (Picture?two steps method) was used to detect expression of COX-2 and Bcl-2 protein in tissues of 47 caces of paraffin-embe-ded pancreatic carcinomas, 12 of pancreatic intraductal neoplasias (PIN) and 10 of normal pancreatic tissues.Results The expressions of COX-2 and Bcl-2 protein were in 2 and 9 respectively (20% , 90%) out of 10 caces of normal pancreatic tissues; the high expressions of COX-2 were found in PIN and pancreatic carcinomas (75% , 68% respectively), which were significantly higher than that of normal pancreatic tissues respectively (P<0. 05). The rate of Bcl-2 protein expression in PIN was 83 %, which was similar to that of normal pancreatic tissues (P!>0. 05). The rate of Bcl-2 protein expression of pancreatic carcinomas was 47%, which was lower than that of PIN and normal pancreatic tissues (P0. 05). The positive expression of COX-2 was 38% among those patients suffering from pancreatic carcinoma with 1-year post-operation survival, which was lower than those with less than 1-year post-operation survival(P<0. 05). The rates of Bcl-2 protein expression in well-differentia-ted, moderately-differentiated and pooly-differentiated pancreatic carcinomas tissues were 70%, 63% and 24%. The significant correlation was observed between pooly-differentiated pancreatic carcinoma tissues and other two groups(P<0. 05). The positive expression of Bcl-2 protein was 64% in pancreatic carcinoma group without lymph node metastasis, which was twice as much as the group with lymph node metastasis (P< 0. 05). The expression of Bcl-2 protein parallels to the mass diameter of tumor, being 22% in mass diameter less than 3 cm group and 27% in mass diameter between 3 -5 cm group and 70% in mass diameter over 5 cm group. The expression of Bcl-2 protein in the biggest diameter group was significantly higher than those in other two groups(P< 0. 05). There was no significant correlation between Bcl-2 protein expression and the location, adjacent tissues invasion ,and distant metastasis of pancreatic carcinomas (P> 0. 05). Bcl-2 protein expression was found in 77% of patients suffering from pancreatic carcinoma with over 1-year post-operation survival, which was higher than those with less than 1-year post-operation survival(P<0. 05). There was significant negative correlation between COX-2 and Bcl-2 protein expression(P<0. 05).Conclusion COX-2 expression in PIN and pancreatic carcinomas may be involved in the carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer. Bcl-2 protein may play an important role in early development of pancreatic carcinomas . Both COX-2 and Bcl-2 protein may be useful indexes to predict the lymphic metastasis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer.