Clinical significance of amyloid precursor protein in patients with testicular germ cell tumor.

Introduction. The biological role of amyloid precursor protein (APP) is not well understood, especially in testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs). Therefore, we aimed to investigate the immunoreactivity (IR) and expression of APP in TGCTs and evaluated its clinical relevance. Materials and Methods. We performed an analysis of immunohistochemistry and mRNA expression of APP in 64 testicular specimens and 21 snap-frozen samples obtained from 1985 to 2004. We then evaluated the association between APP expression and clinicopathological status in TGCTs. Results. Positive APP IR was observed in 9.8% (4/41) of seminomatous germ cell tumors (SGCTs) and 39.1% (9/23) of nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NGCTs). NGCTs showed significantly more cases of positive IR (P = 0.00870) and a higher mRNA expression level compared with those of SGCTs (P = 0.0140). Positive APP IR was also significantly associated with α-fetoprotein (αFP) elevation (P = 0.00870) and venous invasion (P = 0.0414). Conclusion. We observed an elevated APP expression in TGCTs, especially in NGCTs. APP may be associated with a more aggressive cancer in TGCTs.