title: Differential expression of RET finger protein in testicular germ cell tumors.
abstract: Testicular germ cell cancer is a common cancer in young adults and its incidence has risen dramatically over the past several decades in Western countries. Because RET finger protein (RFP), which belongs to the large B-box RING finger protein family, has been reported to be expressed in different stages of spermatogenesis, we investigated its expression in testicular germ cell tumors. These comprised 13 pure seminomas, five pure non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) and seven mixed germ cell tumors, four of which contained seminomatous component. In normal adult testis, the expression of RFP was strong in the germ cells, particularly in spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes. RFP immunoreactivity was seen uniformly and specifically in 12 of the 13 pure seminomas examined. It was also detected in seminomatous components of mixed germ cell tumors, whereas pure NSGCT were negative for RFP expression. The expression of RFP in male germ cells and seminomas together with the lack of its expression observed in highly aggressive NSGCT suggested that RFP could be associated with the regulation of germ cell proliferation and/or histological-type of germ cell tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Gaye
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tezel
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagasaka
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimono
authors.forename: Masahide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D018236:Carcinoma, Embryonal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D018240:Endodermal Sinus Tumor / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018239:Seminoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013724:Teratoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013737:Testis / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D000070584:Tripartite Motif Proteins
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C064419:TRIM27 protein, human; D000070584:Tripartite Motif Proteins