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Aggrus: a diagnostic marker that distinguishes seminoma from embryonal carcinoma in testicular germ cell tumors

Oncogene volume 23, pages 8552–8556 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Aggrus (also known as T1α/podoplanin) is a membrane sialoglycoprotein whose function in tumors is unknown. We recently determined that Aggrus possessed the ability of inducing platelet aggregation and that its expression was frequently upregulated in colorectal tumors. Thus, Aggrus expression might be associated with tumor-induced platelet aggregation and tumor metastasis. Here we show, by means of cancer profiling array and real-time PCR, that aggrus mRNA expression is frequently upregulated in testicular germ cell tumors when compared with the surrounding normal tissue. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that Aggrus protein expression was detected in 10 of 11 seminomas (90.9%), but its expression was not observed in embryonal carcinomas (0/4; 0%). Specific markers for seminomas have not been reported, and Aggrus is a potential diagnostic marker for seminomas and may be associated with malignancies of the testis.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by a special grant for Advanced Research on Cancer from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan. We are grateful to Dr Horiuchi, Department of Experimental and Forensic Pathology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Japan, for kind assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0032, Japan

    Yukinari Kato, Naoya Fujita & Takashi Tsuruo

  2. Department of Experimental and Forensic Pathology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2, Iida-nishi, Yamagata, 990-9585, Japan

    Yukinari Kato, Mika Kaneko & Motoki Osawa

  3. Department of Urology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2, Iida-nishi, Yamagata, 990-9585, Japan

    Isoji Sasagawa

  4. Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, 1-37-1, Kami-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, 170-8455, Japan

    Takashi Tsuruo

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  1. Yukinari Kato
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Correspondence to Takashi Tsuruo.

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Kato, Y., Sasagawa, I., Kaneko, M. et al. Aggrus: a diagnostic marker that distinguishes seminoma from embryonal carcinoma in testicular germ cell tumors. Oncogene 23, 8552–8556 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1207869

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