15 April 2026 : Clinical Research
Phospho-Histone H3 as a Tool for Improved Mitotic Counting and Risk Assessment in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: A Study of 241 Cases
Xu Liu
ADE 1,2, Jiao Liu BC 3, Yahui Cui CF 4, Hanhan Lei CD 1,2, Yuchang Hu DG 1,2, Yufei Liu DG 1,2*
DOI: 10.12659/MSM.952182
Med Sci Monit 2026; 32:e952182
Table 1 The relationship between MC-HE, MC-PHH3 and the clinicopathological parameters of GIST.
| Clinicopathological parameters | N (%) | MC-HE (5 mm2/21HPF) | χ2 | P value | MC-PHH3 (5 mm2/21HPF) | χ2 | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| >10 | ≤10 | >10 | ≤10 | ||||||
| Tumor site | |||||||||
| Stomach | 159 (66%) | 21 | 138 | 3.14071 | >0.05 | 33 | 126 | 2.89051 | >0.05 |
| Small intestine | 73 (30.3%) | 13 | 60 | 15 | 58 | ||||
| Large intestine | 9 (3.7%) | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 129 (53.5%) | 23 | 106 | 1.31026 | >0.05 | 25 | 104 | 0.79175 | >0.05 |
| Female | 112 (46.5%) | 14 | 98 | 27 | 85 | ||||
| Age (years) | |||||||||
| ≤50 | 29 (12%) | 6 | 23 | 0.72255 | >0.05 | 7 | 22 | 0.1278 | >0.05 |
| >50 | 212 (88%) | 31 | 181 | 45 | 167 | ||||
| Tumor size (cm) | |||||||||
| ≤2 | 52 (21.6%) | 0 | 52 | 27.46 | <0.01 | 0 | 52 | 48.0605 | <0.01 |
| 2.1–5 | 90 (37.3%) | 11 | 79 | 13 | 77 | ||||
| 5.1–10 | 61 (25.3%) | 11 | 50 | 17 | 44 | ||||
| >10 | 38 (15.8%) | 15 | 23 | 22 | 16 | ||||
| Presence or absence of rupture | |||||||||
| Presence | 61 (25.3%) | 24 | 37 | 33.5297 | <0.01 | 34 | 27 | 56.3252 | <0.01 |
| Absence | 180 (74.7%) | 13 | 167 | 18 | 162 | ||||
| Risk stratification | |||||||||
| Very low | 0 | 48 | 63.7821 | <0.01 | 0 | 47 | 67.624 | <0.01 | |
| Low | 0 | 73 | 0 | 73 | |||||
| Medium | 0 | 22 | 0 | 21 | |||||
| High | 37 | 61 | 40 | 60 | |||||
| Histological type | |||||||||
| Spindle cell | 132 (54.8%) | 20 | 112 | 5.94724 | >0.05 | 26 | 106 | 4.9476 | >0.05 |
| Epithelioid | 13 (5.4%) | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | ||||
| Mixed | 96 (39.8%) | 12 | 84 | 20 | 76 | ||||
| Presence or absence of necrosis | |||||||||
| Presence | 49 (20.3%) | 30 | 19 | 99.5877 | <0.01 | 37 | 12 | 112.182 | <0.01 |
| Absence | 192 (79.7%) | 7 | 185 | 13 | 179 | ||||
| MC-HE – mitotic count on hematoxylin-eosin; MC-PHH3 – mitotic count on phospho-histone H3; GIST – gastrointestinal stromal tumor; HPF – high-power field; N – number. | |||||||||