Differences in DNA content and proliferation rate between adenocarcinomas of the uterine cervix and corpus

The DNA content and the S-phase rate of 26 cervical adenocarcinomas and 100 endometrial adenocarcinomas, determined by flow cytometry, were compared. Statistically significant differences in DNA patterns were found, although only pure adenocarcinomas were studied in both groups. Peri-diploid values (1.8c-2.2c) were less common in cervical adenocarcinomas (38%) than in endometrial carcinomas (65%) (p less than 0.05). Six (23%) of the cervical carcinomas and 8 (8%) of the endometrial carcinomas had two detectable stem lines. The mean S-phase rate was significantly higher in adenocarcinomas of the uterine cervix than in endometrial carcinomas (p less than 0.02). The dominance of aneuploid values, the high proportion of polyclonal tumors and the high S-phase rates of the cervical adenocarcinomas have more similarities with the DNA patterns of cervical squamous cell carcinomas than with those of endometrial adenocarcinomas.