A Meta Analysis On COX-2 Protein Expression In Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Its Relation To Clinicopathology

Objective:To evaluate the expression of COX-2 protein in hepatocellular carcinoma and its relation to clinicopathology featuresus by meta-analysis so as to find new target ofHCC diagnosis?chemoprevention and therapy.Methods: The published case-control studies about COX-2 expression in HCC were retrieved by searching CNKI?Wanfang?Cochrane library?PubMed database before October 2016.Studies were considered to be high quality if the NOS-scale score was 5 or more.Include the reseaches which use immunohistochemical method determinate COX-2and synthesize staining range and staining intensity evaluate expression level.Statistical heterogeneity evaluation and systematic review was performed by Revman 5.3,merged odds ratio(OR)and 95% confidence interval(95%CI)were calculated,subgroup analysis was performed to investigate the sources of heterogeneity.Publication bias was investigated through funnel plots and Egger's regression model by Stata 12.0.Results:A total of twenty-one studies were enrolled for systematic valuation:The expression level of COX-2 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than normal tissues(OR=15.69,95% CI=9.73~25.32,P<0.00001);significant difference were tested between adjacent noncancerous tissues and normal tissues too(OR=9.47,95% CI=4.70~19.10,P<0.00001);The expression level of COX-2 in well-moderate differential HCC is higher than poor differential group,the difference was statistically significant(OR=1.79,95% CI =1.31~2.46,P=0.0003);but no significant differences was tested between sex?tumor size?tumor stage and other nine HCC clinicopathologic features.Conclusion:Over-expression of COX-2 in HCC and adjacent non-tumor tissue has statistical significance,COX-2 mainly plays a role in the early stages of hepatocarcinogensis,but not advanced stages.