Transcription profiling of human carcinoma in situs cells from testis compared to fetal gonocytes, oogonia and cultured embryonic stem cells

ABSTRACT: Abstract: Testicular cancers in young adult men derive from an inborn precursor lesion, called carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the testis. CIS cells are believed to arise from primordial germ cells or gonocytes that fail to differentiate into the male germ cell lineage, and show a remarkable resemblance to embryonic stem cells (ESC). With this study we aimed at further elucidating the origin of CIS using microarray analysis of genome-wide gene expression. CIS cells only constitute a small fraction of the tissue and therefore, to reduce contaminating RNA from other cell types, we developed a fast (160 sec) staining procedure specific for CIS and fetal germ cells. Highly enriched cell populations were obtained by laser microdissectioning. The expression profiles of CIS cells were compared to microdissected fetal gonocytes, oogonia and cultured ESC with and without genomic amplifications. The cell type most similar to CIS was the gonocytes indicating malignant transformation at this stage. The enriched cell populations allowed us to find unique expression patterns for the developmentally very related cell types. Analyses of the similarities and differences among the cell types may help us understand when and how the malignant transformation to CIS occurs.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

DISEASE(S): not applicable

SUBMITTER: Si Brask Sonne 

PROVIDER: E-TABM-488 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress