[Clonal analysis of a transplantable rat seminoma]

The study of rat testis seminoma by the method of clonal analysis and ectopic transplantations has shown that typical and anaplastic types are different stages of tumor progression in the course of which atypical and anaplastic features of the seminoma cell elements increase. It does not seem inconceivable that the spermacytic form, never encountered during our investigation of 400 tumors, may be an independent seminoma form incapable of transforming into a typical one. A spindle-cell form of seminoma has been described most frequently occurring during transplantation of a typical seminoma into testis and during cloning. The obtained evidence permits to consider the small dark cells of the seminoma as being cambial cells of the tumor which occur abundantly in growing tumors, and are absent in tumors with ceased proloferating. At later stages of the seminoma development, the small dark cells may be absent, their function being performed practically by all tumor cells. Acinar structures found in part of clones from lungs and in the majority of transplants from eye anterior chamber suggest a histogenetic relationship between the typical seminoma and embryocarcinoma, and thus enable us to regard the latter as the most differentiated variants of the seminoma.