Bilateral Germ Cell Tumor of the Testis: Biological and Clinical Implications for a Stem Versus Genetic Origin of Cancers

Authors

Jamaal C Jackson
Darren Sanchez
Aron Y Joon
Marcos R Estecio
Andrew C Johns
Amishi Y Shah
Matthew Campbell
John F Ward
Louis L Pisters
Charles C Guo
Miao Zhang
Niki M Zacharias
Shi-Ming Tu

Publication Date

4-30-2025

Journal

Cells

DOI

10.3390/cells14090658

PMID

40358182

PMCID

PMC12071550

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

4-30-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Germ cell tumors of the testis (GCTs) provide an ideal tumor model to investigate the cellular versus genetic origin of cancers. In this single institutional study, we evaluated 38 patients with bilateral GCT, including tumors that occurred simultaneously (synchronous) and those occurring at different times (metachronous). For nine of these patients, DNA was isolated from the right and left GCT to determine the genomic and epigenetic differences between tissues using whole-exome sequencing (WES) and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS). We found that seminomas and non-seminomas are molecularly distinct based on DNA methylation and not due to synchronous or metachronous disease. In addition, we did not observe conservation of genetic mutations in right and left GCT in either synchronous or metachronous disease. Our data suggest a cellular origin for bilateral GCT.

Keywords

Humans, Male, Testicular Neoplasms, Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal, DNA Methylation, Adult, Exome Sequencing, Middle Aged, Mutation, Seminoma, Epigenesis, Genetic, Young Adult, bilateral testicular cancer, cancer stem cells, origin of cancers, tumor heterogeneity

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Jackson, Jamaal C; Sanchez, Darren; Joon, Aron Y; et al., "Bilateral Germ Cell Tumor of the Testis: Biological and Clinical Implications for a Stem Versus Genetic Origin of Cancers" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 5193.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthgsbs_docs/5193