Correlation between expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and the presence of inflammatory cells in human primary hepatocellular carcinoma: Possible role in tumor promotion and angiogenesis

Table 1 Patient characteristics and histological features of HCC

n	Age (yr)	Sex	Child	ALT	AST	Tumor size (cm)	Histology pattern	Histology grading
1	65	F	A5	26	55	2.8	PS	WD
2	64	M	A6	21	17	3	TR + PS + COM	WD + MD + PD
3	62	M	A5	53	44	7	TR	WD + MD + PD
4	63	M	B7	91	334	3	TR	PD
5	66	M	B7	145	302	1	TR + PS	WD
6	77	M	A5	32	24	3	TR + PS	WD + MD + PD
7	53	F	A6	161	186	2	TR + PS + COM	WD + MD + PD
8	70	F	A6	25	38	3	TR + PS + COM	WD + MD + PD
9	75	F	B7	42	55	2	TR	PD
10	65	M	A5	41	37	2.5	TR + COM	WD + MD + PD
11	56	F	A5	28	57	3.5	TR + PS + COM	WD + MD + PD
12	77	M	A6	44	47	2.7-2.2	TR + PS + COM	PD
13	61	M	A6	21	17	2.5-4.5	TR + PS + COM	WD + MD + PD
14	78	M	A5	210	388	6	TR + PS	WD + MD + PD

TR: trabecular; PS: pseudoglandular; COM: compact. WD: well-differentiated; MD: moderately-differentiated; PD: poorly-differentiated.

Table 2 Mann-Whitney analysis of score representing immunostaining for COX-2, CD68 and number of MCs in liver cirrhosis and HCC tissues

	LC	HCC	z	P
COX-2	5	1	3.7	< 0.0001
	(3 - 5)	(0 - 5)
CD68	5	3	4.2	< 0.0001
	(3 - 5)	(0 - 4)
MCT	4	1	4	< 0.0001
	(2 - 18)	(0 - 10)

LC: liver cirrhosis; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma.