COX-2,VEGF Expressions And Relationships To Angiogenesis In Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the expression of COX-2 and VEGF in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)and their correlation with tumor angiogenesis and invasivenessMethod : Evension immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of COX-2 and VEGF, and microvessel density (MVD) marked by CD34 in 80 HCC tissues and 32 adjacent nontumorous livers and 6 normal livers . the relationship between the above marks and the tumor invasiveness were then analyzed.Results:1. Expressions of COX-2 and VEGF were noted in both HCC tissues and adjacent nontumorous livers and normal livers. The positive rates of COX-2 and VEGF were much higher in HCC than in adjacent nonturmous livers (P<0. 01).2. The expression of COX-2 was correlated with pTNM stage, venous invasion and tumor number (P<0.05) in HCC, but not with tumor grade (P=0. 92), tumor encapsulation (P=0. 587) and tumor size (P=0. 94).3 . Both COX-2 (r=0. 622, P<0.01) expression and VEGF(r=0. 813, P<0.01) expression were associated with MVD in HCC.4. There was a positive correlation between expression of COX-2 and that of VEGF in HCC(r=0.736, P<0.01)Conclusion: COX-2 is related to tumor angiogenesis in HCC. It is likely that VEGF is one of most important of the mediators of the COX-2 angiogenic pathway. COX-2 enhances tumor angiogenesis via upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in HCC. suggesting that COX-2 plays a significant role in the progression of HCC.