COX-2 and bcl-2 expression and clinical significance in patients with cystitis glandularis

Abstract

Objective To determine the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and B-cell lymphoma-2 (bcl-2) expression and the clinical significance in tissue samples of patients with cystitis glandularis (CG). Methods Tissues from 131 patients, including 60 cases of CG, 11 cases of chronic cystitis (CC) and 60 cases of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) were obtained and immunohistochemical staining for COX-2 and bcl-2 was performed. Another 9 specimens of normal bladder epithelial tissue were also evaluated as controls. The changes of both COX-2 and bcl-2 expression before and after treatment were further studied. Results The COX-2 and bcl-2 expression in intestinal type of CG (CGIT) was higher than that in typical type of CG (CGTP), CC and control groups (P ＜0. 01 ). There were no significant differences in both COX-2 and bcl-2 expression between CGIT and TCC groups ( P ＞ 0. 05 ). The expression levels of COX-2 and bcl-2 in CG group were positively correlated as well as in TCC group (P ＜0. 01 ). The COX-2 and bcl-2 expression levels were reduced significantly after treatment (P ＜ 0. 01 ). Conclusion Although CG has the malignant potential, especially the intestinal type, transurethral electronresection combined with intravesical instillation of chemotherapeutics can reduce this risk. Key words: Cystitis glandularis ; COX-2 ; bcl-2 ; Instillation