Proteinases in testicular germ cell tumors

Abstract

4773 Background: Proteinases play a role for invasiveness of malignancy so we examined data from a previous DNA oligo microarray study of patients with testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT). Methods: The study included 3 normal testis, 3 intratubular germ cell neoplasias (IGCN), 3 seminomas (S), 5 embryonal carcinoma (EC), 1 choriocarcinoma, 4 yolk sac tumors, and 4 teratomas (TER). From the DNA microarray data set, we selected the mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), plasminogen activator, urokinase (PLAU), and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1, SERINE1), and compared gene expressions for histological groups of testicular cancer using nonparametric statistics. Results: A series of statistically significant differences were identified between histological groups of testicular cancer: between IGCN and TGCT (MMP9, MMP12, PLAU, and SERINE1), between S versus IGCN and non-S (MMP2 and MMP19), between S and non-S (MMP11), and between TER and non-TER (MMP7 and MMP17). Conclusions: Several MMPs, PLAU, and SERINE1 contribute to invasiveness, and histological subtypes of TGCT have separate characteristic patterns of expression of these proteinase genes. No significant financial relationships to disclose.