Stains - Phosphohistone H3

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Stains

Phosphohistone H3

Reviewer: Nat Pernick, M.D. (see Reviewers page)
Revised: 2 December 2011, last major update December 2011
Copyright: (c) 2002-2011, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

Physiology
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● Core histone protein that is major constituent of chromatin; marker of cells in late G2 and M phase

Interpretation
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● Nuclear stain; count phosphohistone H3+ objects (nuclei and mitoses) in 10 adjacent fields with 40x objective, in invasive epithelial areas with highest phosphohistone H3 staining; ignore nuclei with fine granular staining

Uses by Pathologists
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● Identify mitotic activity in tumor cells; use for counting mitotic figures
● Strong prognostic value in lymph node negative breast cancer patients < 71 years old (Mod Pathol 2007;20:1307, Mod Pathol 2011;24:502)
● Strong prognostic value (<13 versus 13+) in basal-like and triple negative, lymph node negative breast cancer patients (Cell Oncol 2009;31:261)
● Prognostic value in meningiomas (Am J Clin Pathol 2007;128:118, Am J Surg Pathol 2004;28:1532)

Micro images
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Normal colonic mucosa

Various images

Ki-67, phosphohistone H3 and survivin

Node negative breast cancer

Grade 3 breast carcinoma

Thick cutaneous melanomas

Positive staining - disease
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● Mitotic activity

End of Stains > Phosphohistone H3

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