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Background: Yolk sac tumours (YSTs) and germinomas are the two major pure histological subtypes of germ cell tumours. To date, the role of DNA methylation in the aetiology of this class of tumour has only been analysed in adult testicular forms and with respect to only a few genes., Methods: A bank of paediatric tumours was analysed for global methylation of LINE-1 repeat elements and global methylation of regulatory elements using GoldenGate methylation arrays., Results: Both germinomas and YSTs exhibited significant global hypomethylation of LINE-1 elements. However, in germinomas, methylation of gene regulatory regions differed little from control samples, whereas YSTs exhibited increased methylation at a large proportion of the loci tested, showing a 'methylator' phenotype, including silencing of genes associated with Caspase-8-dependent apoptosis. Furthermore, we found that the methylator phenotype of YSTs was coincident with higher levels of expression of the DNA methyltransferase, DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3B, suggesting a mechanism underlying the phenotype., Conclusion: Epigenetic silencing of a large number of potential tumour suppressor genes in YSTs might explain why they exhibit a more aggressive natural history than germinomas and silencing of genes associated with Caspase-8-dependent cell death might explain the relative resistance of YSTs to conventional therapy.

The detailed molecular basis and determinants of in vivo tumour sensitivity to conventional anticancer agents remain unclear. We examined the cellular and molecular consequences of cisplatin treatment using two ovarian tumour xenograft models that had not been previously adapted to culture in vitro. Both xenografts were curable with clinically relevant multiple doses of cisplatin. Following a single dose of cisplatin (6 mg kg(-1) i.p.) growth delays of 25 and 75 days were obtained for pxn100 and pxn65, respectively. This difference in response was not due to differences in DNA damage. Pxn100 tumours had a functional p53 response and a wild-type p53 sequence, whereas pxn65 harboured a mutant p53 and lacked a functional p53 response. Microarray analysis revealed the induction of p53-regulated genes and regulators of checkpoint control and apoptosis in pxn100 tumours following cisplatin-treatment. By contrast, there was no p53-dependent response and only limited changes in gene expression were detected in the pxn65 tumours. TUNEL analysis demonstrated high levels of apoptosis in the pxn100 tumours following cisplatin treatment, but there was no detectable apoptosis in the pxn65 tumours. Our observations show that a marked in vivo response to cisplatin can occur via p53-dependent apoptosis or independently of p53 status in human ovarian xenografts.

Previous studies have shown that the enzyme-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) is essential for the nephrotoxicity of cisplatin. This study was designed to determine whether GGT activity is necessary for the therapeutic effect of the drug. The relationship between GGT expression and clinical response to platinum-based chemotherapy was examined in 41 human germ cell tumours. Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumours were immunohistochemically stained with an antibody directed against human GGT. There was no expression of GGT in any of the 17 seminomas or four dysgerminomas; whereas, 12/12 ovarian yolk sac tumours and 4/4 embryonal carcinomas of the testis were GGT-positive. In stage I tumours fewer tumour cells expressed GGT than in later stage tumours. In four germ cell tumours of mixed histology, the seminomatous and dysgerminoma areas were GGT-negative while the areas of the tumour with yolk sac or embryonal histology contained GGT-positive tumour cells. The patients with seminomas or dysgerminomas who were treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, all had a complete response despite the absence of GGT expression in these tumours. Fifteen of the 16 patients with yolk sac or embryonal carcinomas received cisplatin-based chemotherapy following surgery. Twelve had a complete response, while three failed to respond to platinum-based therapy. There was no correlation between the level of GGT-expression and response to therapy in this group. Three of the four patients with tumours of mixed histology were treated with cisplatin-based therapy, and had a complete response. Therefore, expression of GGT is not necessary for the therapeutic effect of cisplatin in germ cell tumours. The results from this study suggest that systemic inhibition of GGT would inhibit the nephrotoxic side-effect of cisplatin without interfering with its activity towards germ cell tumours.

The correlation between histological subtype [endodermal sinus (ES), polyvesicular vitelline (PV), glandular (G) and hepatoid (H) subtypes] and the prognosis of pure yolk sac tumours (YSTs) of the ovary was investigated. From 1964 to 1989, 35 patients with YSTs were treated with primary surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. The prevalence of histological subtypes was as follows: 14 patients had a single subtype, either ES (12) or G (2); 12 patients had two subtypes, ES+G (4), ES+PV (3), ES+H (4) or G+H (1); six patients had three subtypes, ES+P+H (4) or ES+G+H (2); and three patients had all four subtypes. Multivariate analysis showed that important predictors were FIGO stage, chemotherapeutic regimen and residual tumour size. However, for stage I, multivariate analysis showed that the histological subtype was a superior predictor to the subclassification of FIGO stage I, age or chemotherapeutic regimen (P = 0.03). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that YSTs composed of an admixture of three or four subtypes was associated with a better prognosis than those composed of one or two subtypes (P < 0.01), other variables being constant.