Table 2.

Pathological Features of 57 Mucoepidermoid Carcinomas According to Phosphorylated ERK-1/ERK2 Immunoreactivity

Pathological feature-N		Phosphorylated ERK-1/ERK-2		P Value*
		H-score† less than 1 (N = 35)	H-score equal or more than 1 (N = 22)
Tumor grade‡				0.34
	Low	22	11
	Intermediate	5	4
	High	8	7
Intracystic component§				0.72
	Yes	19	13
	No	16	9
Neural invasion				0.72
	Yes	7	3
	No	28	19
Necrosis				0.79
	Yes	9	5
	No	26	17
Mitosis¶				0.36
	Yes	2	3
	No	33	19
Anaplasia				0.12
	Yes	9	10
	No	26	12
Tumor-associated lymphoid proliferation				0.59
	Yes	20	11
	No	15	11
Predominance of intermediate cells				0.08
	Yes	19	17
	No	16	5

*, The trend in increasing proportions of phosphorylated ERK-1/ERK-2 immunoreactivity with tumor grade was assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test. For two-by-two comparisons P values were determined using the Fisher’s exact test or the χ² test.

^†, H-score, product of the intensity of staining by the proportion of positive cells.

^‡, Tumor grade was established using AFIP criteria.

^§, Intracystic component was more than 20% of tumor.

^¶, More than 4 mitoses per 1.7 square mm was measured.