Expression of Osteopontin and Cyclooxygenase-2 in relation to cellular proliferation, in non-tumor colonic mucosa, colonic adenomas and colon adenocarcinoma

Introduction: the participation of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and Osteopontin has been postulated in the development of colon cancer, which play an important role in the progression and could be biomarkers for its prognosis, but their role remains controversial. Objective: to determine and to compare the expression of Osteopontin and COX-2 in non-tumor colonic mucosa, colonic adenomas and colon adenocarcinoma, in relation to the cell proliferation index. Methods: the immunohistochemical expression of COX-2, Osteopontin and Ki-67 in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue of non-tumor colonic mucosa, colonic adenomas and colon adenocarcinoma were determined and compared. Results: were included 65 cases: 19 of non-tumor colonic mucosa, 13 colonic adenomas and 33 colon adenocarcinomas. There was increased expression of Ki-67 in dysplastic and tumor cells. There was positive expression for COX-2 in adenomas (30.7%) and adenocarcinomas (27.3%), without significant difference between nontumor colonic mucosa, adenomas and adenocarcinoma (p = 0.888). Osteopontin showed more frequent positivity in adenocarcinomas (72.7%) and adenomas (84.6%) than in non-tumor mucosa (10.5%), (p =