Vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors.

ABSTRACT

Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) comprise the vast majority of all testicular malignancies and are the most common type of cancer among young male adults. The nonseminomatous variant of TGCTs is characterized by the presence of embryonic and extraembryonic tissues together with a population of pluripotent cancer stem cells, the so-called embryonal carcinoma. One of the main causes of the resistance of these tumors to therapy is their ability to invade adjacent tissues and metastasize into distant sites of the body. Both of these tumor processes are highly favored by the neovascularization of the malignant tissue. New vessels can be generated by means of angiogenesis or vasculogenesis, and both have been observed to occur during tumor vascularization. Nevertheless, the precise contribution of each process to the neoplastic vascular bed of TGCTs remains unknown. In addition, another process known as tumor-derived vasculogenesis, in which malignant cells give rise to endothelial cells, has also been reported to occur in a number of tumor types, including experimental TGCTs. The participation and cross talk of these 3 processes in tumor vascularization is of particular interest, given the embryonic origin of teratocarcinomas. Thus, in the present review, we discuss the importance of all 3 vascularization processes in the growth, invasion, and metastasis of testicular teratocarcinomas and summarize the current state of knowledge of the TGCT microenvironment and its relationship with vascularization. Finally, we discuss the importance of vascularization as a therapeutic target for this type of malignancy.