A stroll through the present and future of testicular germ cell tumour biomarkers

Abstract

Introduction: Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) are the most commonly diagnosed cancers among young men. Although these tumors usually have a good prognosis and are highly treatable, clinicians and pathologists still face specific dilemmas inherent to this tumor model, which is highly due to its developmental origin.

Areas covered: A wide-ranging review of the currently available and future prospects in the field of TGCT biomarkers is presented.

Expert opinion: The field of TGCT biomarkers has been widely studied in the last decade. Although these patients usually present with good prognosis, there are still specific clinical questions where novel biomarkers are needed to complement the ones already used in the clinic. These questions include the follow-up method of clinical stage-I patients, detection of minimal residual disease, proper identification of teratoma, and suitable selection of patients to chemotherapy, according to their inherent resistance.

Keywords: Biomarkers; DNA methylation; MiR-371a-3p; Serum tumor markers; Testicular germ cell tumors; histopathology; liquid biopsies; risk stratification.