Malignant germ-cell tumours arise from a neoplastic precursor, the carcinoma in situ, and develop into seminomas and/or non-seminomas (embryonal carcinomas, teratomas, yolk-sac tumours and choriocarcinomas). Based on histological and clinical findings, it has been postulated that seminomas can eventually transform into non-seminomas. Here, we used the cell line TCam-2 as model for seminomas and interrogated their differentiation potential. We demonstrate that TCam-2 cells are able to differentiate into mixed non-seminomatous lineages after supplementing the media with TGF-β1, EGF and FGF4. On a molecular level, the differentiation is initiated by repression of BMP/SMAD signalling. As a consequence, BLIMP1, a molecule known to inhibit the differentiation of murine primordial germ cells, is down-regulated and differentiation-inhibiting histone modifications are lost. The appearance of multinucleated giant cells and the expression of marker genes indicate that cells differentiate predominantly into extra-embryonic choriocarcinoma-like cells. This is most likely due to the presence of components of the Hippo pathway, TEAD4 and YAP1. These molecules have been described to trigger extra-embryonic fate determination in the murine system. This study supports the model that seminomas indeed have an intrinsic ability to transform into a non-seminoma. In addition, the data suggest that the transformation does not require an additional mutation, but can be triggered by changes in the tumour microenvironment.
© 2011 The Authors. International Journal of Andrology © 2011 European Academy of Andrology.