Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
COX-2 protein levels in dog bone cancer tumors
By Mullins, Marie N et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2004·College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cyclooxygenase-2 expression in canine appendicular osteosarcomas.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at dogs with osteosarcoma, a serious bone cancer that often spreads and leads to a poor prognosis. Out of 44 dogs with this condition, 34 showed a protein called COX-2, which is linked to cancer progression. Dogs with higher levels of COX-2 had shorter survival times, with those showing strong COX-2 expression living only about 86 days on average after diagnosis, compared to over a year for those with no COX-2. This suggests that COX-2 could be an important factor in how osteosarcoma behaves and may be a target for new treatments in the future.
People also search for: dog osteosarcoma treatment · COX-2 in dogs · canine bone cancer prognosis
Abstract
Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in dogs and it has a high mortality rate from distant metastatic disease. Targeted adjuvant therapies are needed to prolong currently achievable survival times. The role of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in carcinogenesis has been attributed to the production of prostaglandins and involvement in apoptosis, immune surveillance, and angiogenesis. COX-2 is up-regulated in a number of different human and animal epithelial tumors, but data about its function in mesenchymal tumors is lacking. The purpose of this study was to evaluate COX-2 expression in canine appendicular osteosarcomas and to identify if a relationship exists between the intensity of COX-2 expression and clinicopathologic outcome. Of 44 osteosarcomas analyzed, 34 (77.3%) were positive for COX-2 expression. Most of the positive cases (88%) had poor to moderate COX-2 staining. Dogs that had strong COX-2 expression had significantly decreased overall survival time (P = .0107). The median survival times for dogs with negative (n = 10), poor (n = 19), moderate (n = 11), and strong (n = 4) expression were 423, 399, 370, and 86 days, respectively. Additional studies are warranted to further evaluate COX-2 in osteosarcoma for its prognostic value and as a target for adjuvant therapy.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15638270/