Metaplastic processes represent the transformation of one type of cell into another type within the same tissue. It belongs to the group of adaptive-compensatory processes that develop in response to changed environmental conditions, hormonal stimulation or the development of inflammatory processes. Because its development is directly or indirectly accompanied by the tumorogenesis, they Georgian Scientists/ . 5 N 2, 2023 287 are considered as a pre-cancer condition with different potential for malignancy. The type of metaplasia depends on the type of target tissue itself. AgNOR/The Nucleolar Organizer Regions stands for Nucleolar Organizer Regions and are loops of DNA that project beneath the nucleolars of mitotic interphase nuclei. Increased amounts of AgNOR are associated with increased cell proliferation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the proliferative activity of different types of metaplasias of the cervix using AgNor technology. Based on the results of our research, we can assume that the mentioned technology can be used in routine practice as an aid to evaluate proliferative activity during cervical metaplastic processes.

Ovarian cancer represents one of the major causes of gynaecologic cancer mortality worldwide. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) are associated with the development and progression of ovarian cancer. TAMs are mainly represented by two types M1 and M2. We investigated the distribution of total, M1, M2 macrophages, tumor cell/macrophage ratio and M1/M2 ratio in mucinous and serous ovarian tumors. The study results showed that total TAM count is significantly higher in serous ovarian tumors, compared to mucinous tumors and the highest infiltration rate is detected in high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas. In addition, the number of M2 macrophages is significantly increased in higher-grade serous ovarian carcinomas. The evaluation of tumor/cell macrophage ratio could be used as an objective measure of macrophage infiltration in ovarian tumors.

During recent years, there is an accumulating evidence that high grade ovarian carcinoma is developed from the fallopian tube epithelial lesions. However, is not yet completely understood and still represents the subject of investigation. We investigated the immunohistochemical phenotype of matched fallopian tubes from the patients with different types and malignancy grades of ovarian carcinoma. Matched fallopian tubes from ovarian cancer patients were available in 260 cases, including mucinous borderline tumor (n=25), mucinous carcinoma (n=15), serous borderline tumor (n=90), low grade serous carcinoma (n=72) and high grade serous carcinoma (n=48). Immunohistochemical investigation included markers of proliferation (Ki67), apoptosis (Bcl2, p53), hormone receptors (ER, PR), epithelial differentiation (CK7), mesenchymal differentiation (vimentin, calretinin) and stem cells (CD44). The results indicate that the presence of fallopian tube carcinoma in situ is significantly correlated with the presence of high grade ovarian serous carcinoma (r=0.44, p<0.001), whilst there was no significant association with low grade and borderline serous tumors or mucinous tumors.