Table 1 Main characteristics and results of the eligible studies

First author	Year	Histology	Stage	N pts	Laboratory method	Antibody for IHC, dilution	Definition of Cox-2 positivity	HR estimation	Evaluable	Survival results
Ab' Saber	2004	LC	I–IIIB	61	IHC	Dako, 50	Score 1	No data	No	Negative
Achiwa	1999	ADC	I–IIIB	130	IHC	IBL, 25	I>ref	Surv. curves	Yes	NS
Araki	2004	ADC	I	71	IHC	Cayman, 500	>10%	Log rank	Yes	Negative
Brabender	2002	NSCLC	I–IIIA	89	RT-PCR		Ratio ref.	Surv. curves	Yes	Negative
Brattstrom	2004	NSCLC	I–IV	53	IHC	SantaCruz, 1000	>67% + I	No data	No	NS
Hosomi	2000	ADC	I–IIIB	87	IHC	IBL, 50	>10%	No data	No	NS
Khuri	2001	NSCLC	I	160	ISH		1%	Surv. curves	Yes	NS
Kim	2003	NSCLC	I–IIIA	84	IHC	Cayman, 100	Score 2	Surv. curves	Yes	Negative
Laga	2005	NSCLC	I–IV	259	IHC	Cayman, 150	Score 3	Surv. curves	Yes	NS
Lu	2004	NSCLC	I	94	ISH		1%	HR	Yes	Negative
Marrogi	2000	NSCLC	I–IV	106	IHC	SantaCruz, 100	Score 4	No data	No	NS
Richardson	2005	NSCLC	I–IIIA	172	IHC	SantaCruz, 400	>50%^*	Surv. curves	Yes	NS
Yamaguchi	2004	ADC	I–IIIB	117	IHC	Transduc.,100	Score 5	Log rank	Yes	Positive
Yuan	2005	NSCLC	I–IV	60	RT-PCR		Ratio ref.	Surv. curves	Yes	Negative

Abbreviations:ADC, adenocarcinoma; HR, hazard ratio; IBL, Immuno-biological laboratory; IHC, immunohistochemistry; ISH, in situ hybridisation; N pts, number of patients; NSCLC, non-small–cell lung cancer; ref, reference; RT–PCR, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction; surv. curves, survival curves; LC, large cell; NS: non significative; Transduc: Transduction; score 1: score from 0 to 8 without any explanation, positive ⩾2, I: intensity; score 2, 3, 4, 5: different scores with combination of percentage of positives cells and intensity, ^*: >50%: thresehold=median of positivity for COX-2, which was 50%. HR estimation: description of the methods used to estimate the individual HR according to the three different methods described in the statistics methodology (see statistical methods).

Search