Over-expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in Human prostate adenocarcinoma

Aberrant or increased expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 has been implica ted in the pathogenesis of many diseases including carcinogenesis. COX-2 ha s been shown to be overexpressed in some human cancers. Employing semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry we assessed COX-2 expression in samples of pair-matche d benign and cancer tissue obtained from the same prostate cancer patient. Mean levels of COX-2 mRNA were 3.4-fold higher in prostate cancer tissue (n = 12) compared with the paired benign tissue. The immunoblot analysis demo nstrated that as compared to benign tissue COX-2 protein was over-expressed in 10 of 12 samples examined. Immunohistochemical analysis also verified C OX-2 over-expression in cancer than in benign tissue. To our knowledge, this is the first in vivo study showing an over-expressio n of COX-2 in prostate cancer. These data suggest that COX-2 inhibitors may be useful for prevention or therapy of prostate cancer in humans. Prostate 42:73-78, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.