Expression and subcellular location of COX-2 in human gastric cancer cells

OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of cyclooxygenase (COX) in human gastric cancer cell lines and determine the subcellular location of its isoforms. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) were used to investigate the expression and distribution of COX. RESULTS: Positive staining for COX-2 and COX-1 protein was seen in human gastric cancer cell lines MKN45, SGC7901 and AGS. However, COX-2 staining was absent and COX-1 staining was weak in the MGC803 cell line, although COX-2 mRNA was present in all four cell lines. When compared with COX-1, COX-2 was more strongly expressed at both protein and mRNA levels in the gastric cancer cell lines, which was confirmed by double labeling and LSCM. A quantitative analysis of fluorescein intensity indicated that the pixel intensity peak of COX-2 had a gray scale value of 50–70, while COX-1 was only 10. The LSCM technique also revealed the presence of COX-2 in the cytoplasm and nuclear envelope and COX-1 in the cytoplasm only. CONCLUSIONS: In human gastric cancer cells, COX-2 is expressed at higher levels than COX-1 and the different distributions of the two isoforms suggest that their roles in cell function are distinct.