investigation of cyclooxygenase-2 gene polymorphism in patients with gastric cancer and healthy individuals in northern iran

Background: gastric cancer is one of themost common types of cancer in the world. cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) is a pro-inflammatory enzyme and an important mediator of tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis. objectives: the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cox-2 gene polymorphism and the risk of developing gastric cancer. methods: this case-control study was carried out on 150 patients with gastric cancer and 150 healthy individuals. genomic dna was extracted using a modified method of protein precipitation at high salt concentrations. polymorphisms of the cox-2 gene were investigated by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. results: in this study, the frequency of gg genotype and cc genotype was significantly higher in patients with gastric cancer and healthy individuals, respectively (p < 0.05). however, the frequency of cc genotype did not significantly differ between the 2 study groups. conclusions: we demonstrated that the homozygous gg genotype of cox-2 is significantly more frequent in patients with gastric cancer compared to healthy individuals. this could indicate the possible role of cox-2 in the development or progression of gastric cancer.