Strohmeyer T, Reese D, Press M, Ackermann R, Hartmann M, Slamon D
Department of Oncology, Schering AG, Berlin, Germany.
J Urol. 1995 Feb;153(2):511-5. doi: 10.1097/00005392-199502000-00073.
Recent findings suggest an important role of the proto-oncogene c-kit, a surface membrane receptor of the tyrosine kinase family, and its ligand stem cell factor (SCF) in normal spermatogenesis and possibly in the pathogenesis of certain testicular germ cell tumors. To further investigate this potential role, the expression of c-kit and SCF was studied in normal and malignant human testicular tissue specimens at the mRNA and protein level by Northern blot analysis and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The detection of the c-kit receptor in normal human germ cells and its natural ligand SCF in Sertoli cells suggests the presence of a local trophic regulatory system that may be active in human spermatogenesis. Additionally, c-kit expression was detected in the seminoma but not in the nonseminoma subtype of human testicular germ cell tumors (GCT). Stem cell factor was not expressed at the mRNA level in tissue from either subtype of GCT as determined by Northern blot analysis; however, the protein was detected immunohistochemically in the cytoplasm of rare tumor cells.
最近的研究结果表明，原癌基因c-kit（一种酪氨酸激酶家族的表面膜受体）及其配体干细胞因子（SCF）在正常精子发生过程中以及可能在某些睾丸生殖细胞肿瘤的发病机制中发挥重要作用。为了进一步研究这一潜在作用，分别通过Northern印迹分析和免疫组织化学在mRNA和蛋白质水平上研究了c-kit和SCF在正常和恶性人睾丸组织标本中的表达。在正常人生殖细胞中检测到c-kit受体，在支持细胞中检测到其天然配体SCF，这表明存在一个可能在人类精子发生过程中起作用的局部营养调节系统。此外，在人睾丸生殖细胞肿瘤（GCT）的精原细胞瘤中检测到c-kit表达，但在非精原细胞瘤亚型中未检测到。通过Northern印迹分析确定，两种GCT亚型的组织中干细胞因子在mRNA水平均未表达；然而，通过免疫组织化学在罕见肿瘤细胞的细胞质中检测到了该蛋白。
