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- Title
A subfertile patient diagnosed with testicular carcinoma in situ by immunocytological staining for AP-2? in semen samples: Case report.
- Authors
C.E. Hoei-Hansen; E. Rajpert-De Meyts; E. Carlsen; K. Almstrup; H. Leffers; N.E. Skakkebaek
- Abstract
The incidence of testicular cancer is rising. Despite a high cure rate, efforts should be made to obtain diagnosis at the pre-invasive intratubular carcinoma in situ (CIS) stage, as the disease is potentially lethal and treatment has severe side-effects, especially regarding reproductive function. CIS diagnosis is presently only possible by a surgical biopsy of the testis. Immunocytological staining for transcription factor activator protein (AP-2?), previously identified as a marker for neoplastic germ cells, was performed in centrifuged samples of ejaculates obtained from 104 andrological patients, including patients with testicular cancer and subfertility. Cells positive for AP-2? were found only in semen samples from patients diagnosed a priori with testicular neoplasms and, surprisingly, in a 23 year old control subject with oligozoospermia and no symptoms of a germ cell tumour. Testicular biopsies performed during the follow-up of this patient revealed widespread CIS in one testicle, thus proving a potential diagnostic value of the new marker. For the first time, a patient without clinical symptoms of testicular neoplasia was diagnosed at the pre-invasive CIS stage using a new, simple method based on immunocytological staining of a semen sample for AP-2?, a novel marker for CIS. The value of this method for diagnostic use in the clinic requires further careful validation in a large series of patients and controls, but the preliminary results are promising.
- Subjects
SPERMATOGENESIS; CANCER patients; MEDICAL research; TRANSCRIPTION factors
- Publication
Human Reproduction, 2005, Vol 20, Issue 3, p579
- ISSN
0268-1161
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/humrep/deh759