Expressions of cyclooxygenaseª²2 and vascular endothelial growth factor in skin tumors and their clinical significance

    MAO Yueª²Ping, DUAN Zhaoª²Hui, ZENG Fanª²Qin, LIN Baoª²Zhu

    Department of Dermatology & Venerology, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510120, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the expressions of cyclooxygenaseª²2(COXª²2) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in skin tumors and to explore the relationship between them. METHODS: COXª²2 and VEGF protein expressions were detected by immunohistochemical staining in 15 seborrheic keratosis(SK), 15 Bowen¬ðs disease(BD), 20 basal cell epithelioma(BCE), 20 squamousª²cell carcinoma(SCC) and 5 normal skin tissues. RESULTS: COXª²2 protein expression could be observed in these 4 kinds of skin tumors, but not in the normal skin tissues SCC(95.0%), BD(73.3%), SK(46.6%), BCE(68.0%) respectively. VEGF protein expression could be observed in SCC(85.0%), BD(60.0%), SK(53.3%),but not significant in normal tissue and BCE(13.3%).Expression of VEGF was significantly higher in the group of COXª²2 positive staining than the negative group in SCC (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: There was overª²expression of COXª²2 in skin tumors. The expression of VEGF was correlated with the overª²expression of COXª²2 protein but unrelated with the nature of histiocytes. COXª²2 may cooperate with VEGF to promote the formation and development of SCC. ......