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Updated: Feb 20, 2026
Ex Vivo Treatment Response of Primary Tumors and/or Associated Metastases for Preclinical and Clinical Development of Therapeutics
Published on: October 2, 2014
Anti-Phosphohistone H3-Positive Mitoses Are Linked to Pathological Response in Neoadjuvantly Treated Breast Cancer
Sylvia Timme1, Martin Sillem2, Peter Bronsert2
1Praxisklinik am Rosengarten, Mannheim, Germany.
Background:
We evaluated breast cancer (BC) core biopsies taken before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) by immunohistochemistry using anti-phosphohistone H3 (PHH3) antibody to determine mitosis, and correlated the results to clinicopathological data and histopathological regression of resected tumor specimens after NACT.
Methods:
72 patients with either triple-negative (TN) or luminal type BC received NACT with epirubicin/cyclophosphamide (EC) and Taxotere®. Tumor regression was analyzed in resected specimens; pathological complete response (pCR) was achieved in 22.2%. Immunohistochemistry with PHH3 was performed on biopsy samples taken before treatment, and mitotic figures were evaluated in 10 high-power fields (HPF).
Results:
PHH3-detected mitoses correlated significantly with tumor grading (p = 0.001). TNBC showed > 10 PHH3-positive mitoses/10 HPF significantly more frequently than luminal type BC (p = 0.003). Tumors with > 10 PHH3-positive mitoses/10 HPF achieved pCR significantly more often than those with ≤ 10 PHH3-positive mitoses/10 HPF (p = 0.031). Even luminal type BC with > 10 PHH3-positive mitoses/10 HPF was associated significantly with pCR compared to luminal type BC with ≤ 10 PHH3-positive mitoses/10 HPF (p = 0.016).
Conclusion:
NACT with EC and Taxotere is suitable for strong proliferating TNBC and luminal BC (> 10 PHH3-positive mitoses/10 HPF). Immunohistochemical determination of mitoses using anti-PHH3 antibody is a simple and robust method for predicting therapy response to NACT in BC tissue.
