title: Evaluation of cyclin expression in testicular germ cell tumors: cyclin E correlates with tumor type, advanced clinical stage, and pulmonary metastasis.
abstract: The measurement of proliferative index has yielded promising yet conflicting results in the evaluation of testicular tumors. We have examined the role of Ki-67, along with the cyclins A and E in testicular tumorigenesis. We compared the immunoreactivity of 20 pure seminomas with 20 mixed germ cell tumors composed predominantly of embryonal carcinoma with a variety of proliferation markers, including Ki-67, cyclin A, and cyclin E. All 40 tumors stained for Ki-67, and 19 of 20 (95%) seminomas and 18 of 20 (90%) embryonal carcinomas stained positively for cyclin A. Cyclin E stained 14 of 19 (74%) of the embryonal carcinomas and only 4 of 20 (20%) of the seminomas (Fisher's exact two-tailed test, P = .0012). There was a trend toward larger tumor size for cyclin E-positive seminomas (median, 5.92 cm versus 3.96 cm; P = .08), although the same correlation was not significant in embryonal carcinomas. For both seminomas and embryonal carcinomas, staining with cyclin E did not correlate with the presence of lymphovascular invasion or capsular invasion. However, patients who had cyclin E-positive tumors presented with higher clinical stage (P = .0015). In addition, pulmonary spread in embryonal carcinomas (four patients) and seminomas (one patient) occurred only in patients whose tumors were cyclin E positive (P = .014). Although Ki-67 and cyclin A offer little prognostic information in testicular germ cell tumors, cyclin E immunoreactivity correlates with tumor type and is strongly predictive of distant tumor spread.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226-0509, USA. mdatta@mcw.edu
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Renshaw
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Loughlin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D019925:Cyclin A / Q000378:metabolism; D019927:Cyclin E / Q000378:metabolism; D016213:Cyclins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018237:Germinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019925:Cyclin A; D019927:Cyclin E; D016213:Cyclins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen