Objective: To investigate the effect of cyclooxygenase2 inhibitor celecoxib on the suppression of human gastric cancer (GC) growth and the induction of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug activated gene (NAG-1) expression.
Methods: Thirty-six GC patients were randomly divided into two groups before curative surgery. Celecoxib group patients (n = 20) took celecoxib orally 0.2 g, qd for 7 days before operation. Control group (n = 16) took no medication before resection. The resected specimens were used for histological and pathological study, and apoptosis of tumor cells were evaluated by the terminal deoxynucleotide transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay (TUNEL). COX-2 expression was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was used to measure NAG-1 mRNA expression in GC tissue of both groups.
Results: Apoptosis IOD score of the GC cells in celecoxib group was significantly higher than that in control group (180.2 +/- 42.67 vs 10.28 +/- 5.02, P < 0.05). NAG-1 mRNA expression was higher in celecoxib group (0.22 +/- 0.13) than in the control (0.12 +/- 0.08, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference of COX-2 expression rate between both groups (75.0% vs 87.6%, P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Celecoxib can enhance apoptosis of GC cell by induction of NAG-1 gene transcription in human.