Testicular steroid biosynthesis in a boy with a large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumor producing prepubertal gynecomastia.

ABSTRACT

A study of a large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumor of the testis associated with bilateral gynecomastia in an 8-year-old boy is presented. Macroscopically, the two testes showed multiple, large, and hard calcified nodules. Histology revealed clusters or cords of tumor cells with foci of calcifications as well as evidences, in the adjacent testicular parenchyma, of initiation of gonadal development, such as early signs of spermatogenesis and sparse Leydig cell differentiation. In vivo, serum hormone studies showed gonadotropin-independent gonadal activity. After orchidectomy two macroscopically distinct fractions of the removed testes, tumoral and extratumoral, were processed separately for cell isolation and culture. The secretion of testosterone, androstenedione, and 17-hydroxyprogesterone to the medium on day 6 of culture showed that steroidogenesis in cells of the extratumoral fraction was more active than in the tumoral fraction. On the other hand, tumoral fraction cells showed much higher aromatase activity than extratumoral cells. Furthermore, conditioned medium of tumoral fraction cells was able to stimulate testosterone secretion when it was added to subcultures of testicular cells isolated from a control subject. It is postulated that tumoral cells might have stimulated neighboring interstitial cells to differentiate into Leydig cells and to secrete androgens, which in turn might have been aromatized to estrogens by tumoral cells.