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COX-2 overexpression in pretreatment biopsies predicts response of rectal cancers to neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy by Fraser M. Smith; John V. Reynolds; Elaine W. Kay; Paul Crotty; James O. Murphy; Donal Hollywood; Eoin F. Gaffney; Richard B. Stephens; M. John Kennedy is a Medicine article available to read on EtoBox.

What is COX-2 overexpression in pretreatment biopsies predicts response of rectal cancers to neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy about?

## Purpose: To determine the utility of cox-2 expression as a response predictor for patients with rectal cancer who are undergoing neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (rct). ## Methods and materials: Pretreatment biopsies (ptb) from 49 patients who underwent rct were included. cox-2 and proliferation in ptb were assessed by immunohistochemistry (ihc) and apoptosis was detected by tunel stain. response to treatment was assessed by a 5-point tumor-regression grade (trg) based on the ratio of residual tumor to fibrosis. ## Results: Good response (trg 1+2), moderate response (trg 3), and poor response (trg 4+5) were seen in 21 patients (42%), 11 patients (22%), and 17 patients (34%), respectively. patients with cox-2 overexpression in ptb were more likely to demonstrate moderate or poor response (trg 3+4) to treatment than were those with normal cox-2 expression (p=0.026, chi-square test). similarly, poor response was more likely if patients had low levels of spontaneous apoptosis in ptbs (p=0.0007, chi-square test). ## Conclusions: Cox-2 overexpression and reduced apoptosis in ptb can predict poor response of rectal cancer to rct. as cox-2 inhibitors are commercially available, their admin

Who reads COX-2 overexpression in pretreatment biopsies predicts response of rectal cancers to neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy?

Author

Fraser M. Smith; John V. Reynolds; Elaine W. Kay; Paul Crotty; James O. Murphy; Donal Hollywood; Eoin F. Gaffney; Richard B. Stephens; M. John Kennedy

Publisher

Elsevier Science; Elsevier ; Elsevier BV (ISSN 0360-3016)

Published

2006

Language

EN

Field

Medicine (Health Sciences)