Molecular genetic analysis of intracranial germ cell tumors

2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 15591545
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cerebral neurosurgery
• Research Institution: Saitama Medical University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUTANI Masao Saitama Medical School, Department of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (90010454)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NISHIKAWA Ryo Saitama Medical School, Department of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (90237678)
• Project Period (FY): 2003 – 2004
• Keywords: germ cell tumor / Y chromosome / haplotype

Research Abstract

Epidemiological studies suggest that intracranial germ cell tumors are common in East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and China. The Y chromosome is known to encode genes that are involved in germ cell development or maintenance. We have therefore investigated if different classes of Y-chromosomes in the general population (Y chromosome haplotypes) are associated with aspects of the intracranial germ cell tumors. We defined the Y chromosome haplotypes in individuals from Japan who presented intracranial germ cell tumors. We failed to find Y chromosome haplotype associations with frequencies of intracranial germ cell tumors. However, we found that poor prognostic groups of intracranial germ cell tumors including choriocarcinoma, embryonal carcinoma, and yolk sac tumor are exclusively found in Type 1 (C and O excluding O2b^* and O2b1) and Type 2 (D) haplogroups. Our current data highlight the need for further analyses of clinically well-defined patient groups from a wide range of ethnic and geographic origins.