Skip Navigation


Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on September 4, 2007
Molecular Human Reproduction 2007 13(10):721-727; doi:10.1093/molehr/gam059
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
13/10/721    most recent
gam059v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gashaw, I.
Right arrow Articles by Winterhager, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gashaw, I.
Right arrow Articles by Winterhager, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Novel germ cell markers characterize testicular seminoma and fetal testis

Isabella Gashaw1,8, Oliver Dushaj1, Rüdiger Behr1,2, Katharina Biermann3, Ralph Brehm4, Herbert Rübben5, Rainer Grobholz6, Kurt Werner Schmid7, Martin Bergmann4 and Elke Winterhager1

1 Institute of Anatomy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany 2 German Primate Centre, Goettingen, Germany 3 Institute of Pathology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany 4 Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany 5Department of Urology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany 6 Institute of Pathology, University of the Saarland, Homburg-Saar, Germany 7 Institute of Pathology and Neuropathology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

8 Correspondence address. Tel: +49-201-723-4391; Fax: +49-201-723-5635; E-mail: isabella.gashaw{at}uk-essen.de

Seminomas are characterized by expression of several stem cell markers, supporting their origin from germ cells. The current study focuses on novel germ cell markers in normal testes compared to those in fetal testes and different progression stages of seminomas. Microarray data were followed by RT–PCRs and immunohistochemistry on pure seminomas (pT1 to pT3) compared to adult and fetal testis. An upregulation of known germ cell markers, KIT, OCT4 and NANOG, was confirmed in seminoma specimens. We also identified novel germ cell markers such as BOB1 (POU2AF1, OBF1) and prominin 1 (PROM1, CD133), which were significantly upregulated in seminoma specimens, compared to normal testes. Furthermore, two Sertoli cell markers, SCGF (SCF) and the newly identified neuronal stem cell factor, MCFD2 (SDNSF), were expressed in seminoma cells. While BOB1 was expressed in fetal testis of second and third trimester of gestation, MCFD2 and PROM1 were only present in gonocytes up to the second trimester. All marker genes investigated were not further regulated in progressing tumour stages between pT1 and pT3. In conclusion, the germ cell markers described here provide evidence for the origin of seminoma cells, which could be from the developmental stage of early gonocytes or from spermatogonia re-expressing markers of the developing germ cells.

Key words: germ cell markers/pure seminoma/fetal testis/gene arrays/seminoma tumorigenesis

Submitted on July 24, 2007; resubmitted on July 31, 2007; accepted on August 7, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.