Aim-To establish whether testicular germ cell tumours contain Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and if so to provide further evidence for the hypothesis that EBV plays a direct role in the pathogenesis of testicular germ cell tumours.Method-Paraffin wax embedded tissue blocks from 21 germ cell tumours including 12 teratomas and nine classic seminomas were examined by in situ hybridisation for the expres...

Shakespeare advises us that some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. So it is with germ cells. In Drosophila, the very first cells to be formed in the embryo, the pole cells, are germ cells whose descendants have no fate other than to give rise to gametes. In Caenorhabditis and in zebra fish, germ cell determinants present in the egg are asymmet...

Male mammals with two X chromosomes are sterile due to the demise of virtually all germ cells; however, the underlying reasons for the germ cell loss remain unclear. The use of a breeding scheme for the production of XXY male mice has allowed us to experimentally address the question of when and why germ cells die in the XXY testis and whether the defect is due to the presence of an additional ...