Polymorphisms in cycloxygenase-2 gene and breast cancer prognosis: association between PTGS2 haplotypes and histopathological features

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) overexpression is associated with worse prognosis in breast cancer. COX-2 is encoded by a polymorphic gene, called PTGS2, and its expression may be genetically influenced. In this article, we investigate the association between PTGS2 haplotypes and histopathological parameters with prognostic value on the clinical outcome of breast cancer. The study involved 606 women under current treatment for non-metastatic breast cancer. Patients were genotyped for rs689465, rs689466, rs20417, and rs5275, and their haplotypes were inferred. The distribution of PTGS2 genotypes and haplotypes was evaluated according to histopathological categorical groups used for prognostic determination of low/intermediate versus high risk of tumor recurrence. Our results indicate positive associations between variant genotypes of rs689465 and estrogen receptor negativity (OR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.04–2.44, P: 0.02) or HER2 positivity (OR: 1.79, 95% CI: 1.00–3.18, P: 0.03), and between variant genotypes of rs20417 and estrogen receptor negativity (OR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.15–2.57, P: 0.005), progesterone receptor negativity (OR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.09–2.22, P: 0.01) or HER2 positivity (OR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.04–3.13, P: 0.02). In contrast, variant genotypes of rs689466 are negatively associated with estrogen receptor negativity (OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.33–0.98, P: 0.03). A total of eight haplotypes were inferred, and there was a significant difference in their distribution as a function of tumor size (P: 0.011), estrogen receptor status (P: 0.018), and HER2 status (P: 0.025). PTGS2 haplotype *7 (formed by rs689465G, rs689466A, rs20417C, and rs5275T) is positively associated with higher tumor size (OR: 3.72, 95% CI: 1.19–11.22, P: 0.006), estrogen receptor negativity (OR: 2.43, 95% CI: 0.97–5.98, P: 0.032), progesterone receptor negativity (OR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.05–6.39, P: 0.02), and HER2 positivity (OR: 4.17, 95% CI: 1.19–14.44, P: 0.007). Our results suggest that PTGS2 haplotype *7 may contribute to higher growth of untreated breast cancer and that PTGS2 haplotypes need to be considered in the characterization of breast cancer prognosis.