Expression of Syndecan-4 and Correlation with Metastatic Potential in Testicular Germ Cell Tumours

الملخص EN

Although syndecan-4 is implicated in cancer progression, there is no information for its role in testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs).

Thus, we examined the expression of syndecan-4 in patients with TGCTs and its correlation with the clinicopathological findings.

Immunohistochemical staining in 71 tissue specimens and mRNA analysis revealed significant overexpression of syndecan-4 in TGCTs.

In seminomas, high percentage of tumour cells exhibited membranous and/or cytoplasmic staining for syndecan-4 in all cases.

Stromal staining for syndecan-4 was found in seminomas and it was associated with nodal metastasis (P=0.04), vascular/lymphatic invasion (P=0.01), and disease stage (P=0.04).

Reduced tumour cell associated staining for syndecan-4 was observed in nonseminomatous germ cell tumours (NSGCTs) compared to seminomas.

This loss of syndecan-4 was associated with nodal metastasis (P=0.01), vascular/lymphatic invasion (P=0.01), and disease stage (P=0.01).

Stromal staining for syndecan-4 in NSGCTs did not correlate with any of the clinicopathological variables.

The stromal expression of syndecan-4 in TGCTs was correlated with microvessel density (P=0.03).

Our results indicate that syndecan-4 is differentially expressed in seminomas and NSGCTs and might be a useful marker.

Stromal staining in seminomas and reduced levels of syndecan-4 in tumour cells in NSGCTs are related to metastatic potential, whereas stromal staining in TGCTs is associated with neovascularization.