Nuclear Size in Premalignant Conditions of the Cervix Uteri

Abstract

PREVIOUS investigations have shown that according to their modal DNA content uterine and other tumours in man fall into two fairly discrete ploidy-groups^1,2, and follow-up investigations in patients with uterine tumours suggest that the ploidy-group may be of prognostic significance^3,4. From the size of the nuclei in histological sections of carcinoma of the cervix, it has been possible to make a correct estimate of the ploidy-group of the tumour in the majority of cases ; based on a large series of sections, 50 per cent of tumours were found to have predominantly small nuclei (corresponding to a near-diploid DNA content) and 50 per cent predominantly large nuclei (corresponding to a near-tetraploid DNA content)⁵. It would appear that a study of nuclear size in conditions commonly regarded as precursors of malignant disease in the cervix uteri might be of interest, and could possibly throw light on the relationship between the chromosomal changes, which appear to be a constant feature (though variable in extent) of human malignancy, and the apparently stepwise transformation of normal to malignant cervical epithelium.