Biology of human testicular germ cell tumours

Abstract

Testicular germ cell tumours are a rare and bizarre diversion in the life cycle of the male germ line. These neoplasms are thought to originate during embryonic life from primordial germ cells (PGCs) which fail to undergo maturation into prospermatogonia. Maturation arrest and the development of aneuploidy in the PGC give rise to the precursor of germ cell malignancy, the testicular carcinoma in situ (CIS) cell. Thereafter, a complex series of genetic changes, coupled with the onset of puberty, can either convert the CIS cell into a malignant tumour made up of cells resembling primordial germ cells (a seminoma), or drive it down a pathway akin to parthenogenesis, so that it acquires a specia..