title: Germ cell tumors: Insights from the Drosophila ovary and the mouse testis.
abstract: Ovarian and testicular germ cell tumors of young adults are thought to arise from defects in germ cell development, but the molecular mechanisms underlying malignant transformation are poorly understood. In this review, we focus on the biology of germ cell tumor formation in the Drosophila ovary and the mouse testis, for which evidence supports common underlying mechanisms, such as blocking initiation into the differentiation pathway, impaired lineage progression, and sexual identity instability. We then discuss how these concepts inform our understanding of the disease in humans. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 84: 200-211, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: Helen K
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1120-7464
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Salz
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Emily P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Heaney
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology