Timmer A, Oosterhuis J W, Schraffordt Koops H, Sleijfer D T, Szabo B G, Timens W
Department of Pathology, University Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands.
Am J Pathol. 1994 May;144(5):1035-44.
In the present study, we examined the distribution of integrin subunits and extracellular matrix proteins in normal testis, intratubular germ cell neoplasia (ITGCN), and primary and metastatic seminomas. Compared to normal testis in ITGCN, Sertoli cells showed increased expression of alpha 3, alpha 6, and beta 1 integrin subunits. Malignant intratubular germ cells stained for alpha 3, alpha 6, and beta 1 integrin subunits. Progression of ITGCN to invasive seminoma was associated with loss of alpha 3 integrin subunit expression by tumor cells. Consequent to this loss, it can be speculated that the strong expression on ITGCN may be related to the noninvasive character of the lesion as is also known from other noninvasive tumors. All tumors showed a strong expression of alpha 6 and beta 1 integrin subunits. The alpha 5 integrin subunit was weakly expressed in primary seminomas in all stages. No differences were observed in integrin expression between primary and metastatic tumors. The distribution of extracellular matrix proteins was heterogeneous and revealed clear architectural differences between seminomas that may reflect different stages of tumor stroma formation. To our knowledge, the results presented in this study provide the first information on the possible role of tumor-extracellular matrix interactions in the biological behavior of ITGCN and testicular seminomas.
在本研究中，我们检测了整联蛋白亚基和细胞外基质蛋白在正常睾丸、管内生殖细胞肿瘤（ITGCN）以及原发性和转移性精原细胞瘤中的分布。与ITGCN中的正常睾丸相比，支持细胞显示α3、α6和β1整联蛋白亚基的表达增加。恶性管内生殖细胞对α3、α6和β1整联蛋白亚基呈阳性染色。ITGCN进展为浸润性精原细胞瘤与肿瘤细胞α3整联蛋白亚基表达的丧失有关。由于这种丧失，可以推测ITGCN上的强表达可能与病变的非侵袭性特征有关，这在其他非侵袭性肿瘤中也有报道。所有肿瘤均显示α6和β1整联蛋白亚基的强表达。α5整联蛋白亚基在所有阶段的原发性精原细胞瘤中均弱表达。原发性肿瘤和转移性肿瘤之间在整联蛋白表达上未观察到差异。细胞外基质蛋白的分布是异质性的，并且显示出精原细胞瘤之间明显的结构差异，这可能反映了肿瘤基质形成的不同阶段。据我们所知，本研究中呈现的结果提供了关于肿瘤-细胞外基质相互作用在ITGCN和睾丸精原细胞瘤生物学行为中可能作用的首个信息。
