N-cadherin Expression in Testicular Germ Cell and Gonadal Stromal Tumors

Abstract

Neural-cadherin is a member of the cadherin gene family encoding the N-cadherin protein that mediates cell adhesion. N-cadherin is a marker of Sertoli cells and is also expressed in germ cells of varying stages of maturation. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence and distribution of this protein by immunohistochemistry in 105 germ cell tumors of both single and mixed histological types and 12 gonadal stromal tumors. Twenty-four germ cell tumors consisted of one cell type and the remaining were mixed. Of the 23 seminomas in either pure or mixed tumors, 74% were positive. Two spermatocytic seminomas were positive. Of the 83 cases with yolk sac tumor, 99% were positive for N-cadherin. The teratomas were positive in 73% in neuroectodermal and / or glandular components. In contrast, 87% of embryonal carcinomas did not express N-cadherin. Only 17% of the syncytiotrophoblastic cells were positive for N-cadherin. In conclusion, N-cadherin expression is very helpful in the identification of yolk sac tumors. In addition to glypican-3 and Sal-like protein 4, N-cadherin can be beneficial for the diagnosis and classification of this subtype of testicular germ cell tumor. Nine of the 12 gonadal stromal tumors were positive to a variable extent.

Analysis of connexin 43, connexin 45 and N-cadherin in the human sertoli cell line FS1 and the human seminoma-like cell line TCam-2 in comparison with human testicular biopsies

“…In TCam-2-cells, a mainly membrane-associated but also a weak cytoplasmic staining could be observed for N-cadherin, thus bringing our findings into line with previous findings [16,23]. Similarly, sections of seminoma showed the typical honeycomb-like expression-a well-known pattern which results from the expression of N-cadherin at the cell membranes of neighboring cells [14,16,17]-and thus can be used to confirm the results obtained from the TCam-2 cell line. However, the observed signal at the cell membranes of TCam-2 cells was relatively weak compared to FS1 cells and the expression value of N-cadherin was low in TCam-2 but high in FS1 cells.…”

“…Within FS1 cells, N-cadherin was prominently localized at the cell membranes and to a lesser extent in the cytoplasm. Similarly, in tubules with NSP, N-cadherin was present in the cytoplasm of SCs but was strongly evident at the cell boundaries between SCs and some GCs, as previously described by others [14,15,17,18]. Thus, the expression of N-cadherin in FS1 cells resembles the expression of N-cadherin in SCs of the NSP tubule in the setting of methods we performed.…”

“…Thus, N-cadherin in particular seems to be highly involved in migration, invasion and metastasis processes [22,23]. Along with this, expression of N-cadherin has already been shown in GCNIS and seminoma [14,16,17], as well as in seminoma-like TCam-2 cells [16,23]. Therefore, N-cadherin is highly interesting for diagnostics, prognostics and therapy of testicular cancer.…”

“…Different cadherins are the main group of transmembrane proteins that interact with other molecules to bind with actin filaments [12], thereby having an impact on tissue integrity and homeostasis [13]. In the human testis, neuronal (N) cadherin is the best-known cadherin [14][15][16][17][18]. Cadherins are further known to play an important role in differentiation and morphogenesis of tissues by being significantly involved in the migration and arrangement of cells [19].…”

Sex-specific expression of CTNNB1 in the gonadal morphogenesis of the chicken

“…Of particular note, N-cadherin can mediate adhesion between Sertoli cells and spermatogenic cells and also serve as a marker of Sertoli cells. Moreover, CTNNB1 has an important function to regulate adhesion and signaling pathways at Sertoli cell-germ cell junctions [ 39 - 41 ]. In the present study, CCND1 was specifically and abundantly expressed in the seminiferous cords of male gonads between E6 and E9 and in seminiferous tubules of testes at 12 weeks of age.…”