Leydig cell tumors of the testis: a molecular-cytogenetic study based on a large series of patients

The genetic features of the uncommon Leydig cell tumors (LCT) are largely unknown. Consequently, it is of great importance to elucidate the pathogenesis of testicular germ cell tumors by cytogenetic and molecular biological investigations. The purpose of the present study was the examination of cytogenetic features of these tumors in a large series of LCT. It comprised formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 25 LCT to analyze the chromosomal constitution using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). In most of the studied cases, the aberrant cell population was additionally defined by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I-FISH). Our molecular-cytogenetic study indicates chromosomal imbalances in the majority of our cases (21/25, 84%). The most frequent findings were gain of chromosome X, 19 or 19p and loss on chromosome 8 and 16.