Kliesch S, Behre H M, Hertle L, Bergmann M
Department of Urology and Center for Gynecology, University of Münster, Germany.
J Urol. 1998 Nov;160(5):1894-8.
We investigated Sertoli cells in testicular biopsies with carcinoma in situ (CIS) in respect to cytokeratin expression to elucidate the status of Sertoli cell differentiation adjacent to CIS in human testes. Cytokeratin 18 intermediate filaments indicate a state of undifferentiation usually observed in Sertoli cells of prepubertal testes.
29 testicular biopsies presenting CIS were investigated by means of immunohistochemistry, using a polyclonal antibody against placental-alkaline phosphatase to detect CIS cells and a monoclonal antibody against human cytokeratin 18 to show expression of cytokeratin 18 intermediate filaments in Sertoli cells.
All tubules bearing CIS showed positive cytokeratin expression of Sertoli cells if tubules were devoid of normal germ cells. However, a total of 13 specimen revealed CIS cells together with normal germ cells. In the presence of CIS cells together with round or elongated spermatids, adjacent Sertoli cells did not express cytokeratin immunoreactivity. In the case of combined presence of CIS and spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes, Sertoli cells could be found either immunopositive or immunonegative, and were positive in tubules with CIS and spermatogonia only.
Sertoli cells associated with CIS cells undergo a process of dedifferentiation, seen by the re-expression of cytokeratin intermediate filaments. We suggest that this dedifferentiation results in a loss of Sertoli cell function and leads to a cessation of spermatogenic activity.
我们研究了原位癌（CIS）睾丸活检组织中的支持细胞的细胞角蛋白表达情况，以阐明人类睾丸中CIS附近支持细胞的分化状态。细胞角蛋白18中间丝表明一种未分化状态，通常在青春期前睾丸的支持细胞中观察到。
采用免疫组织化学方法对29例呈现CIS的睾丸活检组织进行研究，使用抗胎盘碱性磷酸酶的多克隆抗体检测CIS细胞，使用抗人细胞角蛋白18的单克隆抗体显示支持细胞中细胞角蛋白18中间丝的表达。
如果小管中没有正常生殖细胞，所有含有CIS的小管均显示支持细胞的细胞角蛋白表达呈阳性。然而，共有13个标本显示CIS细胞与正常生殖细胞同时存在。在CIS细胞与圆形或细长形精子细胞同时存在的情况下，相邻的支持细胞不表达细胞角蛋白免疫反应性。在CIS与精原细胞和初级精母细胞同时存在的情况下，支持细胞可能呈免疫阳性或免疫阴性，仅在含有CIS和精原细胞的小管中呈阳性。
与CIS细胞相关的支持细胞经历了去分化过程，表现为细胞角蛋白中间丝的重新表达。我们认为这种去分化导致支持细胞功能丧失并导致生精活动停止。
