The current study is a multi-faceted examination of yolk sac tumor-like phenotypes in endometrial tumors, based on an analysis of 3 groups of uterine tumors: Group 1: 9 endometrial tumors that had been classified as yolk sac tumor, or as having a yolk sac tumor component, were assessed with a 35-marker immunohistochemical panel, with the goal of defining their immunophenotypic spectrum; Group 2, comprised of 70 endometrial carcinomas of various histotypes, were analyzed for their expression of SALL4, Glypican-3, and AFP, to assess the specificity of these markers for yolk sac tumors relative to endometrial carcinomas; Group 3, comprised of 626 archived cases of endometrial carcinoma/carcinosarcoma, reviewed to define the frequency of yolk sac tumor-like morphology therein.
This 18-year-old woman underwent laparoscopic pelvic tumor resection, considered her first surgery, 2 years ago, and pathology revealed YST with initial alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level measuring >3,000 ng/mL.
The intestinal-type mucinous glands were immunoreactive for SALL4 (4 cases), AFP (4 cases), glypican 3 (1 case), CDX2 (6 cases), and villin (7 cases), markers that are commonly expressed in YSTs, although the latter 2 markers would be expected to be positive in intestinal-type glands.
For germ cell tumors, the mean preoperative serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) level was significantly higher in patients with yolk sac tumor than in those with teratomas (2,078 ng/mL vs 5.7 ng/mL).
This proportion of patients is even lower for those with seminomas or pure embryonal carcinomas as alpha-fetoprotein is predominantly related to yolk sac tumor and human chorionic gonadotropin to choriocarcinoma.
We analyzed EPCAM expression by quantitative RT-PCR in 48 fresh-frozen GCT specimens of different histology (10 mature teratoma, MT; 6 immature teratoma, IT; 7 dysgerminoma; 6 mixed malignant GCTs; 19 yolk sac tumor, YST) and in the GCT cell lines NCCIT, TE76.T, JAR and 2102Ep, and correlated its expression with AFP and hCG protein levels, histologic differentiation, and clinical follow-up data.
The current study is a multi-faceted examination of yolk sac tumor-like phenotypes in endometrial tumors, based on an analysis of 3 groups of uterine tumors: Group 1: 9 endometrial tumors that had been classified as yolk sac tumor, or as having a yolk sac tumor component, were assessed with a 35-marker immunohistochemical panel, with the goal of defining their immunophenotypic spectrum; Group 2, comprised of 70 endometrial carcinomas of various histotypes, were analyzed for their expression of SALL4, Glypican-3, and AFP, to assess the specificity of these markers for yolk sac tumors relative to endometrial carcinomas; Group 3, comprised of 626 archived cases of endometrial carcinoma/carcinosarcoma, reviewed to define the frequency of yolk sac tumor-like morphology therein.
The intestinal-type mucinous glands were immunoreactive for SALL4 (4 cases), AFP (4 cases), glypican 3 (1 case), CDX2 (6 cases), and villin (7 cases), markers that are commonly expressed in YSTs, although the latter 2 markers would be expected to be positive in intestinal-type glands.
Expression of the embryonic stem cell miR-371-3 and miR-302/367 clusters in SE/EC/YS suggest possible application of these micro-RNAs as GCC tumor-markers.
Herein we show that levels of all 8 main members of the miR-371∼373 and miR-302 clusters were elevated in the serum of a 4-year-old boy at the time of diagnosis of yolk sac tumor.
Sylamer revealed that the hexamer GCACTT, complementary to the 2- to 7-nucleotide miRNA seed AAGUGC shared by six members of the miR-371-373 and miR-302 clusters, was the only sequence significantly enriched in the 3'-untranslated region of mRNAs downregulated in pediatric malignant GCTs (as a group), YSTs and ECs, and in adult YSTs (all versus nonmalignant tissue controls; P < 0.05).