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Department of Pathology

 
germ cell cancer

The Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium (MaGIC) has just published its recommendations set on advancing the field of germ cell tumours through integrative translational research, led by senior author Professor Matthew Murray from the Department of Pathology.

 

The authors provide insights on how to address the heterogeneity of germ cell tumours, which represents a major barrier to improving the clinical care of these patients since they become less represented when segregated per age group, anatomical location, histology and behaviour.

 

An integrated research pipeline is described, involving international cooperation and networking, maintaining data protection; accessible informed consent strategies; multidisciplinary teamwork; suitable infrastructures for biospecimen collection, storage and analysis; biomarker studies in appropriate biological material; annotation and integration of several patient-related data; and quality control.

 

This manuscript provides the position of MaGIC on the translational future of germ cell tumour research, coming from a consensus group with the representation of multiple specialities.

 

Read the recommendations in full, Advancing clinical and translational research in germ cell tumours (GCT): recommendations from the Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium in Nature Br J Cancer 127, 1577–1583 (2022) here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-02000-4 

 


 

 


 

 

 

Professor Matthew Murray

Professor and Honorary Consultant Paediatric Oncologist

Matthew and his team work on the clinical and molecular aspects of solid tumours of childhood, particularly germ cell tumours (GCTs) – of which testicular cancer is the most common form. Their work has established emphasis on the role of non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs, which are short, non-protein-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally and are aberrantly expressed in cancer. We demonstrated for the first time that the miR-371~373 and miR-302/367 clusters are highly over-expressed in all malignant GCTs, regardless of patient age, histological subtype or anatomical site (published in Cancer Research in 2010). This is a specific change, as these microRNAs are not co-ordinately dysregulated in any other malignancy or disease state. They subsequently were the first to demonstrate the potential utility of specific circulating microRNAs for diagnosis, disease monitoring and detection of relapse in GCTs as well as other childhood tumours.

 

Find out more about the Murray Lab here

Keep up with Matthew on Twitter @drmatthewmurray

Keep up with the Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium on Twitter @MaGIC_GCT

 

 

 

Image credit Wikipedia