Soini Y, Paakko P
Department of Pathology, University of Oulu, Finland.
Hum Pathol. 1996 Nov;27(11):1221-6. doi: 10.1016/s0046-8177(96)90318-4.
This study investigates the extent of apoptosis in 53 testicular and ovarian germ cell tumors by using the in situ 3'-end DNA labeling technique on tumor sections. The tumors were also immunostained with antibodies to the p53 and bcl-2 proteins. The extent of apoptosis was highest in embryonal carcinoma (mean, 2.9%) followed by seminoma (mean, 1.1%), choriocarcinoma (mean, 0.7%) and immature teratoma (mean, 0.7%). In individual components of the mixed germ cell tumors the apoptotic index was in the same range as in the corresponding pure germ cell tumors. Mature teratomas rarely contained any apoptotic cells. Sixty-two percent of all the tumors expressed p53 protein. p53 expression was quantitatively strongest in embryonal carcinomas which also showed the highest level of apoptosis. Bcl-2 positivity could only be detected in some mesenchymal and epithelial components of the immature and mature teratomas; embryonal carcinomas, seminomas, or choriocarcinomas did not express bcl-2 at all. Our results show that the level of apoptosis in germ cell tumors associates with the histological type of the neoplastic component independent of whether it is singly present or a component of a mixed germ cell tumor. The results suggest that the quantity of p53 expression may contribute to the level of apoptosis in different tumor groups.
本研究采用原位3'-末端DNA标记技术，对53例睾丸和卵巢生殖细胞肿瘤切片中的凋亡程度进行了调查。同时，用p53和bcl-2蛋白抗体对肿瘤进行免疫染色。凋亡程度在胚胎癌中最高（平均为2.9%），其次是精原细胞瘤（平均为1.1%）、绒毛膜癌（平均为0.7%）和未成熟畸胎瘤（平均为0.7%）。在混合性生殖细胞肿瘤的各个成分中，凋亡指数与相应的纯生殖细胞肿瘤处于相同范围。成熟畸胎瘤很少含有凋亡细胞。所有肿瘤中有62%表达p53蛋白。p53表达在胚胎癌中定量最强，而胚胎癌也显示出最高水平的凋亡。bcl-2阳性仅在未成熟和成熟畸胎瘤的一些间充质和上皮成分中检测到；胚胎癌、精原细胞瘤或绒毛膜癌根本不表达bcl-2。我们的结果表明，生殖细胞肿瘤中的凋亡水平与肿瘤成分的组织学类型相关，而与它是单独存在还是混合性生殖细胞肿瘤的一个成分无关。结果提示，p53表达量可能有助于不同肿瘤组中的凋亡水平。
