Expression patterns of mitotic and meiotic cell cycle regulators in testicular cancer and development

Mitotic and meiotic cell cycle regulation is essential for normal development and tumor prevention. The underlying molecular mechanisms are not completely characterized. The aim of our analysis was to derive a global expression map of cell cycle regulators in mitosis and meiosis. First, the expression of cyclins, CDKs and CDK inhibitors was determined during postnatal testis maturation in mice using microarrays and quantitative RT-PCR. The abundance of cyclins A1, B2, K, M4, CDK2, all CDKLs, CDKN2c, CDKN2d and INCA1 increased during testis maturation. In contrast, cyclins A2, B1, D2, G1, G2, CDK1, CDK4 and CDK2AP1 showed a maturation-associated decrease. Gene expression profiles of isolated germ cells and testicular somatic cells confirmed these results. Second, we determined cyclin expression patterns in human normal and malignant testis samples (n = 36) modeling the reciprocal difference between meiosis and mitosis. Testicular tumors strictly expressed cell cycle regulators identified in mitotically dividing germ cells. Expression of several transcripts was histology-specific in testicular tumors, providing novel molecular markers and potential therapeutic targets. Taken together, our data provide a comprehensive expression map of cell cycle regulators at the switch between mitosis and meiosis in testis development and in cancerogenesis.