Table 2

- Biological markers in the 2 study groups at baseline and after 6 cycles.

Parameters	Control group (n=28)		Celecoxib group (n=26)		P₁-value
Parameters	Mean±SD	P-value	Mean±SD	P-value	P₁-value
CEA
At baseline	103.02±31.22	0.097	112±35.23	<0.001*	0.338
After 6 cycles	90.09±32.62	0.097	28.8±9.76	<0.001*	<0.001*
CA19.9
At baseline	159.20±39.68	0.069	170.70±54.7	<0.001*	0.379
After 6 cycles	139.50±51.04	0.069	47.19±16.33	<0.001*	<0.001*
VEGF (ng/L)
At baseline	2220.95±427.04	0.669	2281.97±573.35	<0.001*	0.658
After 6 cycles	2261.15±310.08	0.669	1533.09±368.29	<0.001*	<0.001*
CXCL5 (pg/ml)
At baseline	76.39±10.86	0.002*	82.46±17.90	<0.001*	0.135
After 6 cycles	93.43±21.04	0.002*	51.19±13.79	<0.001*	<0.001*
sFAS (ng/ml)
At baseline	46.86±10.12	0.472	43.21±7.07	<0.001*	0.134
After 6 cycles	48.51±8.16	0.472	65.1±18.02	<0.001*	<0.001*
sFASL(ng/ml)
At baseline	15.22±3.89	0.155	15.37±4.09	<0.001*	0.892
After 6 cycles	16.51±3.79	0.155	9.24±2.94	<0.001*	<0.001*
sFAS/sFASL ratio
At baseline	3.169±0.63	0.309	3.059±1.28	<0.001*	0.892
After 6 cycles	3.03±0.61	0.309	8.17±4.77	<0.001*	<0.001*

SD: standard deviation, CEA: carcinoembryonic antigen, CA19.9: cancer antigen 19.9, VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor, CXCL5: CXC motif chemokine 5, sFAS: soluble factor-related apoptosis, FASL: factor related apoptosis ligand, *significant difference (p<0.05), p-value: before versus after within the same group, p₁-value: p-value between the 2 groups after treatment