Cytogenetic evidence that carcinoma in situ is the precursor lesion for invasive testicular germ cell tumors.

A cytogenetic study of two cases of carcinoma in situ of the testis (CIS) and their adjacent invasive tumors, one a nonseminomatous germ cell tumor (NS) and one a seminoma (SE), revealed similarities in chromosomal pattern between the CIS and the invasive lesion in the same patient. These findings present for the first time cytogenetic evidence that CIS of the testis and its adjacent germ cell tumor are clonally related, which suggests that the CIS is indeed the precursor lesion of the invasive tumor.