Abstract. The development of cervical cancer requires genetic and epigenetic factors which result in the persistence of a malignant phenotype. Cervical cancer exhibits also some unique differences from other solid tumors. Normal cervical stratified epithelia have characteristics of hypoxic tissue with over-expression of HIF-1 (hypoxia-inducible factor-1) transcription factor, which targets the transcription of over 70 genes involved in many aspects of cancer biology. One of the genes, which could be induced by HIF-1 is chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4). CXCR4 could also be epigenetically regulated by methylation of CpG dinucleotides located in the promoter region. Here, we examined the CXCR4, DNMT3A, DNMT3B and DNMT1 transcript levels in cancer tissue (n=30) and non-cancer, normal uterine cervical tissue (n=30) from a Polish cohort. We also compared the methylation status of CXCR4 promoter region in cancer and normal tissue samples. Our result showed significantly higher levels of CXCR4, DNMT3A, DNMT3B and DNMT1 transcript (p=0.0058, 0.0163, 0.0003 and <0.0001, respectively) levels in cancer tissue as compared to normal samples. We did not observe DNA methylation in the CXCR4 promoter region in either control or cancer tissue samples. CXCR4 has a functional hypoxia response element (HRE) in the promoter region, located -1.3 kb from the transcription start site. Our work shows for the first time that HIF-1A could promote the induction of CXCR4 gene expression (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.515, p=0.003) in patients with primary advanced

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Objectives: To assess the incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia -SIL and cervical cancer in a population of pregnant women with an abnormal cytology. Material and methods:In pregnant women with abnormal cytology results according to The Bethesda System, a verifying diagnostics was carried out, including colposcopy and cervical biopsy. Results:The most common histological and oncologic diagnosis in the whole study group of pregnant women were HGSIL changes, covering cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of medium and high grade -CIN 2 and CIN 3.Conclusions: HGSIL changes are the most common oncological pathology in a population of pregnant women with an abnormal cytology. Precise risk identification of HGSIL changes with the use of molecular tests can significantly reduce the number of surgical procedures in a population of pregnant patients with a cytological diagnosis of ASCUS and LSIL.