c-MET receptor: a potential biomarker for Testicular Germ Cell Tumours.

Testicular Germ Cell Tumours (TGCTs) are a heterogeneous family of neoplasms classified into three groups: type I (infants), type II (adolescents and young adults) and type III (elderly) [1]. The incidence of type II or malignant TGCTs (seminomas and non-seminomas) is drastically increased. They originate from a common precursor, the Germ Cell Neoplasia In Situ, which likely arises during embryogenesis due to an alteration of the testicular niche that blocks gonocyte differentiation [2]. They show similarities to embryogenesis, including the formation of both embryonic as well as extra-embryonic lineages, and present clinically often with metastases. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) exerts multiple biological responses (proliferation, migration, morphogenesis, differentiation) through c-MET receptor [3]. We demonstrated that HGF/c-MET signalling contributes to the maintenance of testicular microenvironment both pre-natally and post-natally. However, c-MET is altered in many human cancers, making it a suitable molecular target for therapies. My research is focused on the role of HGF/c-MET system in type II TGCT onset and/or progression to metastatic disease and treatment resistance. We have already evaluated its expression in TGCT derived cell lines and its contribution to proliferation, migration and invasion. With this communication, I present the c-MET immunoreactivity performed in a cohort of histological samples from all major variants of type II TGCTs, using Tissue Microarrays evaluation after immunohistochemical staining with a validated antibody. Our scoring results show a clearly different c-MET distribution and staining intensity between the analysed TGCT histotypes, allowing us to speculate that c-MET receptor could be used as a novel biomarker for these tumours