6533b856fe1ef96bd12b31d5

RESEARCH PRODUCT

To Be or Not to Be a Germ Cell: The Extragonadal Germ Cell Tumor Paradigm

Marco BarchiSusanna DolciBalistrericarmela RitaFrancesca Gioia KlingerFederica CampoloMassimo De Felici

subject

EpigenomicsMalePluripotent Stem Cellsendocrine systemCell typeTranscription GeneticQH301-705.5PopulationReviewBiologygermlineCatalysisGermlineInorganic ChemistryTesticular Neoplasmsmedicineprimordial germ cellsHumansEpigeneticsBiology (General)Physical and Theoretical ChemistryeducationGonadsQD1-999Molecular BiologySpectroscopyeducation.field_of_studySettore BIO/16Organic ChemistryEG cellsTeratomaEmbryogerm cell tumorCell DifferentiationGeneral MedicineNeoplasms Germ Cell and Embryonalmedicine.diseaseComputer Science ApplicationsCell biologyChemistrymedicine.anatomical_structureGerm CellsExtragonadal Germ Cell TumorEG cells; germ cell tumor; germline; primordial germ cellsGerm cell tumorsGerm cell

description

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.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2021-06-01
10.3390/ijms22115982http://hdl.handle.net/2108/278288