Abstracts
2002 Digestive Disease Week

# 102718 Abstract ID: 102718 Expression of Cyclooxygenase II (COX II) in Chronic Pancreatitis
Yoshifumi Takeyama, Shinji Kishi, Takashi Ueda, Takeo Yasuda, Makoto Shinzeki, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Yoshikazu Kuroda, Kobe, Japan

Recently, COX II has been reported to be expressed on fibroblasts or macrophages in response to inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor a, and to be involved into the inflammatory process including rheumatoid arthritis and gastritis. The aim of this paper was to investigate the involvement of COX II in chronic pancreatitis. We analyzed 14 specimens of pancreata obtained from surgical resection due to chronic pancreatitis. Indications for operation were intractable pain on 11 cases, and suspicion of pancreatic cancer on 3 cases, respectively. All cases were male, and the age was ranged from 26 to 68 years old. Operative procedures performed were pancreatoduodenectomy on 6 cases, pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy on 3 cases, distal pancreatectomy on 2cases, segmental pancreatectomy on 1 case, duodenum-preserving pancreas head resection on 1 case, and total pancreatectomy on 1 case. As control, 6 pancreatic specimens, which were of almost normal histology, were used. They were obtained from surgical resection due to pancreatic cancer or pancreatic cysts. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed by using anti goat polyclonal antibody for COX II (sc-1745; Santa Cruz Biotechnology). In the pancreas with chronic pancreatitis, strong COX II expression was detected in 6 cases (43%), and COX II expressed in the margin of fibrosis, where inflammatory cell infiltration was evident. In contrast, COX II expression was not noticed in the region where fibrosis was completed. In control specimens, scarce expression was noticed only in 1 case. In addition, COX II expression was hardly detected in the specimens from 3 cases without preoperative pain. In chronic pancreatitis, COX II was frequently expressed in comparison with control, suggesting its involvement of the pathophysiology of chronic pancreatitis. Furthermore, COX II might be implicated in the intractable pain of chronic pancreatitis.