The cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway is important in colorectal carcinogenesis with the majority of cancers overexpressing COX-2; however, the role of COX-2 in the development of colorectal adenomas is less well defined.
Taken together, our results suggest that overexpression of mPGES in addition to COX-2 contributes to increased amounts of PGE(2) in colorectal adenomas and cancer.
An increase of COX-2-positive cells in adenoma was observed in 11 (37.9%) lesions, 10 (90.9%) of which had a K-ras gene mutation, suggesting a significant correlation between COX-2 expression and K-ras gene mutation in colorectal adenomas.