Risk stratification of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) by tumor size, lymph node and metastasis status is crucially affected by mitotic activity. To date, no studies have quantitatively compared mitotic activity in hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained tissue sections with immunohistochemical markers, such as phosphohistone H3 (PHH3) and Ki-67. According to the TNM guidelines, the mitotic count on H&E sections and immunohistochemical PHH3-stained slides has been assessed per 50 high-power fields of 154 specimens of clinically documented GIST cases. The Ki-67-associated proliferation rate was evaluated on three digitalized hot spots using image analysis. The H&E-based mitotic rate was found to correlate significantly better with Ki-67-assessed proliferation activity than with PHH3-assessed proliferation activity (r=0.780; P<0.01). A linear regression model (analysis of variance; P<0.001) allowed reliable predictions of the H&E-associated mitoses based on the Ki-67 expression alone. Additionally, the Ki-67-associated proliferation revealed a higher and significant impact on the recurrence and metastasis rate of the GIST cases than by the classical H&E-based mitotic rate. The results of the present study indicated that the mitotic rate may be reliably and time-efficiently estimated by immunohistochemistry of Ki-67 using only three hot spots.
Keywords: Ki-67; PHH3; gastrointestinal stromal tumors; mitosis; proliferation.