Malignant potential of dysplastic endocervical epithelium assessed by ploidy status,S-phase fraction and C-myc expression

The aim of this study was to determine if dysplastic endocervical cells (EC) posses a neoplastic potential as precursor lesions to adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS). The malignant potential was determined by assessing the ploidy status and proliferative activity by flow cytometry and c-myc expression by immunohistochemistry. The studied parameters were assessed separately in morphologically normal, dysplastic and malignant EC. The chi 2 test showed significant association of malignant EC with aneuploidy (p = 0.008) and high proliferative activity (p = 0.042). Since one third of the dysplastic EC are also aneuploid and show high mitotic activity, they probably have malignant potential as well. The dysplastic EC showed a significant association with c-myc oncogene expression (p = 0.028). Our results indicate the existence of pre-malignant glandular lesions, while the immunohistochemical detection of c-myc protooncogene could be helpful in detection of EC with malignant potential, even without any dysplastic morphological changes.