EXPRESSION OF CYCLOOXYGENASE -2 GENE IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA EGYPTIAN PATIENTS

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most aggressive human cancers and the third leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the recent advance in diagnosis and treatment of HCC, it remains a highly lethal disease due to recurrence and /or metastasis. HCC is an example of inflammation-related cancer, as the chronic inflammatory state appears to be necessary for the initiation and development of liver cancer. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of chronic liver disease, which can lead to the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Recently, the activation of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) has been implicated in the HCV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma. Cox-2 is inducible by a variety of stimuli, including oncogenes, mitogens, cytokines, growth factors, inflammatory molecules, endotoxins, and tumor promoters. The present study included 17 HCC tissue samples and 21 adjacent non-tumor liver tissues obtained from 22 HCC patients underwent curative hepatectomy at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University during the period from December, 2003 to August, 2005. Eight histologically normal liver tissue samples collected from age and sex matched normal donors for liver transplant patients and four cancer cell lines (HepG2, MCF-7, HCT 116 and HeLa) were served as control. Before surgery, all patients were subjected to complete blood picture (CBC), liver function tests (LFT), viral markers (HBs Ag and anti- HCV antibody), and preoperative serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) as well as radiological evaluation by abdominal U/S and computed tomography (CT) scan.