Human testicular germ-cell tumors of young adults (TGCTs), both seminomas
and nonseminomas, are characterized by 12p overrepresentation, mostly as
isochromosomes, of which the biological and clinical significance is still
unclear. A limited number of TGCTs has been identified with an additional
high-level amplification of a restricted region of 12p including the K-RAS
proto-oncogene. Here we show that the incidence of these restricted 12p
amplifications is approximately 8% in primary TGCTs. Within a single cell
formation of i(12p) and restricted 12p amplification is mutually
exclusive. The borders of the amplicons cluster in short regions, and the
amplicon was never found in the adjacent carcinoma in situ cells.
Seminomas with the restricted 12p amplification virtually lacked apoptosis
and the tumor cells showed prolonged in vitro survival like seminoma cells
with a mutated RAS gene. However, no differences in proliferation index
between these different groups of seminomas were found. Although patients
with a seminoma containing a homogeneous restricted 12p amplification
presented at a significantly younger age than those lacking it, the
presence of a restricted 12p amplification/RAS mutation did not predict
the stage of the disease at clinical presentation and the treatment
response of primary seminomas. In 55 primary and metastatic tumors from 44
different patients who failed cisplatinum-based chemotherapy, the
restricted 12p amplification and RAS mutations had the same incidence a
