Overexpression of SerpinB9 in non-seminomatous germ cell tumors.

ABSTRACT

Serpinb9 is an inhibitor of granzyme B and is potentially involved in the immune escape of tumor cells. In the present study, bioinformatics analysis using open databases suggested that SerpinB9 is overexpressed in testicular embryonal carcinoma. Immunohistological analysis was performed on 28 cases of testicular germ cell tumors to investigate the relationship between SerpinB9 expression in testicular germ cell tumors and the tumor immune environment. SerpinB9 was significantly upregulated in the non-seminoma group and inversely correlated with the number of tumor-infiltrating CD8-positive cells. In addition, yolk sac tumors were characterized by the loss of human leukocyte antigen-class I expression. These findings suggest that SerpinB9 contributes to the immune escape of testicular germ cell tumors. Targeting therapy for SerpinB9 might therefore be useful in immunotherapy for testicular germ cell tumors resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors.