The prognostic roles of cyclooxygenase-2 for patients with basal cell carcinoma

Figures & data

Figure 1. Relative cox-2 mRNA expression in BCC tissues and adjcant normal tissues. The mRNA expression of cox-2 in BCC tissues were significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (p < .001).

Figure 2. Cox-2 protein expression was detected by western blot analysis. The protein expression of cox-2 in BCC tissues were significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (p < .001).

Table 1. The association of cox-2 expression with clinicopathological parameters in patients with BCC.

Variables	Cases (n)	Cox-2 expression		χ^2	p value
		High (n = 85)	Low (n = 95)
Age				0.788	.375
≧ 65	91	40	51
<65	89	45	44
Gender				0.141	.708
male	81	37	44
female	99	48	51
Tumor size				0.609	.435
≧1.1 cm	94	47	47
<1.1 cm	86	38	48
Depth of invasion				38.778	<.001
Early	99	26	73
Advanced	81	59	22
Angiogenesis				35.571	<.001
Negative	91	23	68
Positive	89	62	27
Location				0.000	.993
Face	89	42	47
Neck (or others)	91	43	48
Nevi				0.037	.847
Few or no	77	37	40
Many	103	48	55

Figure 3. Kaplan–Meier analysis for estimating the overall survival of patients with BCC. Patients with high expression of cox-2 had shorter overall survival than those with low cox-2 expression (log rank test, p < .001).

Table 2. Univariate and multivariate analysis of clinical factors and cox-2 in overall survival of BCC.

Variables	HR^U (95% CI)	p	HR^M (95 % CI)	p
Age	1.365 (0.660–2.824)	.401	–	–
Gender	1.682 (0.810–3.493)	.163	–	–
Tumor size	0.649 (0.304–1.386)	.364	–	–
Location	0.646 (0.311–1.342)	.241	–	–
Depth of invasion	1.978 (0.924–4.235)	.079	–	–
Nevi	0.863 (0.410–1.815)	.698	–	–
Angiogenesis	3.105 (1.465–6.578)	.003	2.437 (1.096–5.415)	.029
Cox-2 expression	6.391 (2.374–17.201)	.000	5.320 (1.861–15.204)	.002

HR^U: Hazard ratios in univariate models; HR^M: Hazard ratios in multivariable models.

Table 3. Univariate and multivariate analysis of clinical factors and cox-2 in disease-free survival of BCC.

Variables	HR^U (95% CI)	p	HR^M (95 % CI)	p
Age	1.161 (0.619–2.179)	.642	–	–
Gender	1.041 (0.555–1.954)	.901	–	–
Tumor size	1.397 (0.738–2.645)	.304	–	–
Location	1.235 (0.658–2.318)	.511	–	–
Depth of invasion	1.128 (0.596–2.135)	.712	–	–
Nevi	1.371 (0.713–2.637)	.345	–	–
Angiogenesis	3.009 (1.497–6.047)	.002	2.476 (1.215–5.045)	.013
Cox-2 expression	2.918 (1.509–5.887)	.002	2.457 (1.227–4.919)	.011

HR^U: Hazard ratios in univariate models; HR^M: Hazard ratios in multivariable models.