Object of the study: squamous intraepithelial lesions and invasive cancer of the uterine cervix (UC). Aim of the study: improvement of the diagnosis for pathological states of UC (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia [CIN] with different degrees of severity and carcinoma in situ [CIS]) followed by the establishment of criteria for their differential diagnosis. Methods of the study: histological, histochemical, cytomorphometric, immunomorphological, morphometric and statistical. Practical significance of the obtained results: the conducted complex study of the morphology of the stratified squamous epithelium (SSE) and underlying stroma of UC made it possible to reveal their peculiarities depending upon the stage of cancerogenesis. The clear characteristics of changes of cells, their size and shape, interrelationships and location, stroma cell reactions and their expressiveness will serve pathomorphologists of the practical health care establishments as criteria for the optimum diagnosis of precancerous processes and UC cancer. Scientific novelty of the obtained results: natural changes in SSE, basal membrane and UC stroma depending upon the stage of cancerogenesis were revealed on the material of UC biopsies as a result of a complex study with use of histological, histochemical, cytomorphometric, immunomorphological, morphometric and statistical methods. It was fund out that the increase of morphometric parameters of UC SSE with augmentation of the morphofunctional and proliferative activity of epitheliocytes and intensification of the processes of mass cell death by apoptosis were directly proportional to the stage of cancerogenesis severity increase. The following changes, which take place in the basal membrane and stromal-vascular component depending upon the stage of cancerogenesis, were revealed: expressiveness of the basal membrane and stroma, presence of infiltration, presence of certain kinds of collagen, some signs of vascular neoplasms. A relaytionship was found between the degree of UC cancerogenesis and the level of expression of immunohistochemical markers of biological properties of blood: Ki-67 (the index of proliferative potential) and p16INK4a (the indicator of malignant transformation of cells). The revealed changes and regulations supplement and specify the notions of oncotransformation and the factors, upon which the biological behaviour of precancerous processes and malignant neoplasms depends. For the first time, pathomorphological criteria for the differential diagnosis of different degrees of severity of epithelial CIN’s, CIS and invasive cancer were established on the basis of a complex study conducted. Introduction: the obtained results have been introduced into the practical work of the Department Morbid Anatomy of Kharkiv Regional Hospital, as well as the educational process of the Department of Pathomorphology of Kharkiv National Medical University, the Department of General and Clinical Pathology of Karazin Kharkiv National University and the Department of Pathological Anatomy of Kharkiv Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education. Sphere of application: medicine, pathological anatomy.
