Clusterin expression and human testicular seminoma

Abstract

Clusterin expression has a positive correlation with the occurrence and progression of various types of tumors from different genetic backgrounds. Clusterin overexpression may protect tumor cells from apoptosis and damage caused by autoimmunity or anti-tumor therapy. Using immunohistochemisty, one previous study showed that clusterin protein expression is downregulated in human testicular seminoma, which is highly sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. We thus postulate that clusterin expression in human testicular seminoma differs from clusterin expression in other tumors. It may be the cause of the treatable characteristics of testicular seminoma. In the present preliminary study, we detected the abundance of clusterin mRNA in human testicular seminoma and normal testis. The results showed decreased clusterin expression in seminoma at the gene transcription level. Our primary data and summarized previous literature suggest that the downregulation of clusterin expression may be the cause of the high sensitivity of testicular seminoma to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It may be that the scarcity of clusterin leaves tumor cells with insufficient protection from treatment. This is the first study to focus on the relationship between clusterin expression and human testicular cancer.