Lead researcher
Professor Kate Loveland
Main finding
There is a correlation between the type of pathology in a man's testis and the kind of immune cells that are present. This information will help guide diagnosis and therapies for men who do not produce sperm or who have testicular germ cell tumours.
Centre
Centre for Reproductive Health
Research group
Germ Cell Biology and Testis Development
Journal and article title
Most surprising
There is very little information about the characteristics of the immune cells in testes of men that do not produce sperm or that have germline tumours. We were suprised to discover just how different the two conditions are, particularly in testes with tumours where the presence of B cells and high levels of IL-6 and other cytokines are likely to contribute to progression of this malignancy.
Future implications
Our discovery that IL-6 levels are elevated in the testes harbouring germ cell tumours suggests that therapies that block IL-6 may the potential to restrict the survival, growth or spread of testicular germ cell tumours. This provides a new therapeutic approach for the most common solid tumour type in young men that may increase their potential to retain fertility and father children
Disease/health impact
Testicular cancer
Other points of interest
This work was performed by a PhD student who is part of our International Research Training Group in Male Reproductive Pathology with the University of Giessen, Germany.
