Disease relevance of Teratoma

• Although usually sporadic and most commonly associated with maternal diabetes, there is a hereditary form which may occur in isolation or with a presacral mass (anterior meningocele and/or presacral teratoma) and anorectal abnormalities, which constitute the Currarino triad (MIM 176450) [1].
• To our knowledge this is the first case report of the association of clinically evident hyperprolactinemia with an ovarian cystic teratoma that contained prolactin-producing tissue [2].
• SP1 was elevated at 11-440 ng/ml in 3 of 6 men with choriocarcinomas, in 5 of 17 men with teratomas or "teratocarcinomas" (embryonal carcinomas and teratomas), and in 5 of 50 men with embryonal carcinomas; the highest value in 143 patients with nonmalignant diseases was 9.1 ng/ml [3].
• Here we show that, as compared with p53(-/-) mice, 53BP1(-/-)/p53(-/-) animals more rapidly develop tumors, including T cell lymphomas and, at lower frequency, B lineage lymphomas, sarcomas, and teratomas [4].
• In contrast, none of the sera from patients (77 cases) with dysgerminoma, seminoma, germinoma, and mature teratoma or from patients (118 cases) with nongerm cell types of ovarian tumors contained this antibody [5].

High impact information on Teratoma

• Expression profiling of wildtype and Apc-mutated teratomas supports the differentiation defects at the molecular level and pinpoints a large number of downstream structural and regulating genes [6].
• A mutation in the Ter gene causing increased susceptibility to testicular teratomas maps to mouse chromosome 18 [7].
• The c-mos-deficient female mice developed ovarian teratomas at a high frequency [8].
• P19 teratoma cells differentiate to nerve-like cells in the presence of 5 x 10(-7) M retinoic acid (RA) [9].
• Sacrococcygeal teratoma in a neonate. Association with maternal use of acetazolamide [10].

Chemical compound and disease context of Teratoma

• Extracts with the use of 0.2 M NaCl (salt) and 2% Triton X-100 (detergent) from teratoma contained at least nine different carbohydrate-binding proteins [11].
• However, NAT1(-/-) cells exhibited an impaired ability to differentiate: they were resistant to differentiation induced by retinoic acid, and teratomas derived from them consisted of undifferentiated and poorly differentiated tissues [12].
• Inhibition of tumorigenicity of the teratoma PC cell line by transfection with antisense cDNA for PC cell-derived growth factor (PCDGF, epithelin/granulin precursor) [13].
• In vitro differentiation of teratomas and the distribution of creatine phosphokinase and plasminogen activator in teratocarcinoma-derived cells [14].
• Mutant mice deficient in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were used to induce teratomas [15].

Biological context of Teratoma

• Very long telomeres were detected in some mature teratomas, consistent with telomerase repression as a late event in teratoma formation [16].
• The DNA probe for Northern analysis was obtained by reverse transcription and PCR with intestinal poly(A)+ RNA, using two 20-mer oligonucleotide primers homologous to the 3' coding region of the human teratoma PMCA [17].
• Degrees of H19 hypomethylation and SNRPN hypermethylation increased as the cellular origin of the tumors advanced in oogenesis and were closely correlated in individual teratomas [18].
• Methylation imprinting of H19 and SNRPN genes in human benign ovarian teratomas [18].
• Dynamic computation of interaction networks and mapping to existing pathways knowledge databases revealed a potential role of EGR1 in p21-induced cell cycle arrest and intrinsic chemotherapy resistance of mature teratomas [19].

Anatomical context of Teratoma

• Telomerase activity in germ cell cancers and mature teratomas [16].
• Alkaline phosphatase of mouse teratoma stem cells: immunochemical and structural evidence for its identity as a somatic gene product [20].
• If Pre-AFP was excluded from the model, the absence of teratoma or yolk sac elements in the primary tumor became significant predictors of PS2 [21].
• We conclude that yolk-sac-derived teratomas are of endodermal origin because of the fact that the paternal X chromosome is inactivated in the yolk sac endoderm, whereas in the yolk sac mesoderm, as in the embryo, the inactivation is at random [15].
• Three of five immature teratomas exhibited GATA-4 in neural blastematous cells and in cylindrical epithelium, whereas all 16 mature teratomas were devoid of GATA-4 [22].

Gene context of Teratoma

• H19 and SNRPN were methylated in individual teratomas to various degrees, ranging from normal somatic cell to expected ovum levels [18].
• We also show that hypermethylation of genomic DNA by Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b is necessary for ES cells to form teratomas in nude mice [23].
• Analysis of microsatellites D10S551, D10S541 and D10S1765 in GCTs (n=22) showed LOH at the PTEN locus at 10q23 in at least 36% of GCTs (three embryonal carcinoma, three seminoma, two teratoma); one seminoma and one embryonal (9%) carcinoma presented an inactivating mutation in the PTEN gene (2/22) [24].
• Teratomas harboring the cadherin-11 gene generated bone and cartilage preferentially [25].
• MATERIALS AND METHODS: It has been previously reported that N-cadherin-expressing E-cadherin-/- ES transfectants formed neuroepithelium and cartilage in teratomas [25].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Teratoma

• Those patients with immature teratomas and elevated AFP levels at diagnosis should receive adjuvant chemotherapy after the initial surgical resection [26].
• Transplantation of 101 embryos resulted in 18 tumor-bearing mice: 36 teratocarcinomas; 18 teratomas; and 27 yolk sac tumors [27].
• Vascular invasion, absence of teratoma, and a short interval between orchiectomy and RPLND indicated increased risk of relapse in PS1 patients [21].
• Subcutaneous injection of beta 1 integrin-deficient embryonic stem cells in mice causes the formation of teratomas although they occur with a lower frequency and are smaller than wild-type cells [28].
• Expression of p21 and/or p27 was induced in some differentiated structures seen in teratomas, and was recapitulated in cell culture, using human NTera2/D1 teratocarcinoma cells induced to differentiate into neurons [29].

References