Pathogenesis of teratoid tumors of the ovary and testis

Abstract

Based upon a representative sample of testicular tumors studied at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, several testicular and ovarian tumors observed in Denver, pertinent papers in the literature, and the singular thesis of Chevassu on tumors of the testis, the pathogenesis of such neoplasms is elaborated. The findings are philosophical, speculative, and established. Man is a multicellular individual to be regarded as a vehicle for the transmission of unicellular organisms or germ cells from one generation to the next. These cells remain distinct from somatic and trophoblastic cells. The mature human female not only tolerates the normal expression of the fertilized ovum during pregnancy (sex cells, blastoderm, and trophoblast) but also seems capable of greater differentiation of immature somatic cells resulting from parthenogenesis of one or more ova into cells of the three germ layers, as well as the suppression of the growth of neoplastic sex cells and trophoblast cells, with benign cystic teratoma as the most common culmination. The preponderance of malignant teratoid tumors before sexual maturity is a corollary. In contrast, the human male is not equipped with organizers postulated for the human female and thus is unable to differentiate malignant immature somatic cells, the most common cancerous element in testicular tumors. The explanation for such neoplasms must be on the basis of segregation of such cells and abnormal spermatogonia or less often trophoblastic cells in the embryo, with later expression as neoplastic cells, since spermatogonia and progeny are unable to form a new individual. To paraphrase Wilms, the statement may be made that malignant testicular and ovarian tumors of teratoid type are related, despite their different microscopic appearance, to a common form. They differ only in the quality, not in the quantity, of the different tissues comprising them. These tumors contain neoplastic blastodermic cells and differentiated cells of the three germ layers, neoplastic sex cells, and neoplastic trophoblastic cells. The cells of these tumors and the tissues they form resemble very nearly the tissues of the human embryo with nonaxial formation of alimentary and respiratory structures in many instances. The notable frequency of variably differentiated neural elements in the teratoids tumors of the ovary is in sharp contrast to their uncommon occurrence in like tumors of the testis. Dysgenesis of the ovaries and the testes of testicular feminization syndrome should be regarded as likely soil for the development of teratoid tumors.