To Be or Not to Be a Germ Cell: The Extragonadal Germ Cell Tumor Paradigm.
Int J Mol Sci 2021;
22:ijms22115982. [PMID:
34205983 PMCID:
PMC8199495 DOI:
10.3390/ijms22115982]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
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.
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