1. To Be or Not to Be a Germ Cell: The Extragonadal Germ Cell Tumor Paradigm
- Author
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Marco Barchi, Susanna Dolci, Carmela Rita Balistreri, Francesca Gioia Klinger, Federica Campolo, Massimo De Felici, De Felici M., Klinger F.G., Campolo F., Balistreri C.R., Barchi M., and Dolci S.
- Subjects
Epigenomics ,Male ,Pluripotent Stem Cells ,endocrine system ,Cell type ,Transcription, Genetic ,QH301-705.5 ,Population ,Review ,Biology ,germline ,Catalysis ,Germline ,Inorganic Chemistry ,Testicular Neoplasms ,medicine ,primordial germ cells ,Humans ,Epigenetics ,Biology (General) ,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry ,education ,Gonads ,QD1-999 ,Molecular Biology ,Spectroscopy ,education.field_of_study ,Settore BIO/16 ,Organic Chemistry ,EG cells ,Teratoma ,Embryo ,germ cell tumor ,Cell Differentiation ,General Medicine ,Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ,medicine.disease ,Computer Science Applications ,Cell biology ,Chemistry ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Germ Cells ,Extragonadal Germ Cell Tumor ,Germ cell tumors ,Germ cell - Abstract
In the human embryo, the genetic program that orchestrates germ cell specification involves the activation of epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms that make the germline a unique cell population continuously poised between germness and pluripotency. Germ cell tumors, neoplasias originating from fetal or neonatal germ cells, maintain such dichotomy and can adopt either pluripotent features (embryonal carcinomas) or germness features (seminomas) with a wide range of phenotypes in between these histotypes. Here, we review the basic concepts of cell specification, migration and gonadal colonization of human primordial germ cells (hPGCs) highlighting the analogies of transcriptional/epigenetic programs between these two cell types.
- Published
- 2021