Abstrakt
Background: The aim of this study was to determine the association of clinicopathological features with disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in ovarian cancer patients.
Methods: Data from 74 ovarian cancer patients were retrospectively reviewed. COX-2 expression was determined by an immunohistochemical method. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis were performed to determine the relationship between clinicopathological features of the patients and DFS and OS.
Results: Recurrence was observed in 31 (41.9%) patients, and 9 (12.2%) patients died during the study period. OS of patients with postoperative residual volume >1 cm (p < 0.001), OS of chemotherapy-resistant patients (p = 0.001), and OS of stage III-IV patients (p = 0.056) were lower. Age, histological subtype, stage, and chemotherapy resistance were predictors of DFS, while chemotherapy resistance was predictive of OS. Thirty-nine (52.7%) patients were COX-2 positive and COX-2 positivity in Stage III-IV ovarian cancer was significantly higher than in Stage I-II ovarian cancer (p = 0.032). CA125 level, tumor size, number of patients with ascites, number of patients with residual >1 cm, and number of stage III patients were numerically higher in COX-2 positive ovarian cancer patients than in COX-2 negative ovarian cancer patients. DFS and OS in COX-2 positive ovarian cancer patients were numerically lower than in COX-2 negative ovarian cancer patients. However, these differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: The higher COX-2 positivity in stage III-IV ovarian cancer suggests that COX-2 may contribute to cancer progression. Larger sample size studies are needed to clarify the relationships between COX-2 expression and ovarian cancer progression.
Key words: ovarian cancer, Cyclooxygenase-2, disease-free survival, overall survival