OBJECTIVE: Cervical cancer is a common malignant tumor in women with increased incidence and younger onset age. As a curable tumor, timely diagnosis and early intervention are critical. Based on the golden standard of cervical tissues pathology examination, we investigated the value of free body of reduced iron protoporphyrin (FH) in uterus epithelial cells for the diagnosis of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions, aiming to provide novel methods for early screening of cervical cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 574 women who were screened for cervical cancer according to golden standard of pathology as the reference, were recruited for the analysis of authenticity, reliability, and predictive values of FH. The diagnostic value of FH on cervical carcinoma and precancerous lesion diagnosis was further analyzed. RESULTS: 340 individuals had normal cervical or benign lesion by pathology examination, while 155 people had precancerous lesion, among which 79 cases presented early infiltration and infiltrative cancer. In FH screening, 361 and 213 people had negative and positive results, respectively. No significant differences in the results were observed between the two methods in screening cancer and precancerous lesion (p>0.05). FH showed 93.55% sensitivity and 81.94% specificity in diagnosing precancerous lesion, while the sensitivity and specificity for cervical cancer diagnosis were 93.53% and 81.01%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: FH assay was demonstrated to have advantages of high diagnostic value for cervical cancer and precancerous lesion, and might be used for early screening.