Table 2. Correlation between COX-2 mRNA and protein level with mRNA level of various angiogenic factors.
| Noncirrhotic liver | Cirrhotic liver | |||||||||||||||
| mRNA level angiogenic factor | COX-2 mRNA | COX-2 protein | COX-2 mRNA | COX-2 protein | ||||||||||||
| tumor | adjacent | tumor | adjacent | tumor | adjacent | tumor | adjacent | |||||||||
| r | p | r | p | r | p | r | p | r | p | r | p | r | p | r | p | |
| VEGFA | .39 | .08 | .09 | .79 | −.57 | .07 | .05 | .88 | .26 | .21 | .20 | .36 | −05 | .81 | .11 | .62 |
| VEGFR1 | .86. | .001 | −.24 | .49 | −.48 | .13 | .54 | .09 | .48 | .02 | .08 | .71 | .09 | .70 | .06 | .78 |
| VEGFR2 | .78 | .001 | .37 | .26 | −.47 | .14 | −.27 | .42 | .16 | .44 | −.05 | .81 | −.12 | .60 | −.38 | .09 |
| Ang-1 | .51 | .02 | .15 | .67 | −.13 | .71 | −.23 | .49 | .51 | .01 | .42 | .04 | .22 | .32 | −.02 | .95 |
| Ang-2 | .13 | .58 | −.12 | .73 | −.41 | .21 | .21 | .54 | .08 | .72 | .24 | .27 | .11 | .63 | .08 | .71 |
| Tie-2 | .82 | .001 | −.22 | .51 | −.42 | .20 | −.42 | .20 | .68 | .001 | .21 | .35 | .18 | .42 | −.08 | .73 |
| Ang-2:Ang-1 | −.40 | .07 | −.18 | .60 | −.3 | .37 | .34 | .31 | −.36 | .08 | .24 | .27 | −.14 | .53 | .08 | .71 |
Pearson r (r) and p-value (p) are presented in tumor and adjacent cirrhotic and noncirrhotic liver separately. Statistically significant correlations are shown in bold. Abbreviations: Ang-1/2: angiopoietin-1/2; Tie-2: tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin-like and EGF-like domains-2; COX-2: Cycloxygenase-2; mRNA: messenger ribonucleic acid; VEGFA: vascular endothelial growth factor A, VEGFR1/R2: vascular endothelial growth factor receptor ½; Tu: tumor; Adj: adjacent.