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Acute myeloid leukemia with biallelic CEBPA gene mutations and normal karyotype represents a distinct genetic entity associated with a favorable clinical outcome.

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Such results suggest that this protocol for the isolation and microencapsulation of pSCs is compatible with long-haul transportation and that Ba-MCpSCs could be potentially employable for xenotransplantation.

Human primordial germ cells (PGCs) have been described in the yolk sac wall around the beginning of the third week. From week 4 to 5, they migrate under control of SCF/c-KIT signaling pathway to the genital ridge, where they become gonocytes. PGCs and gonocytes express classic pluripotency markers, such as KIT, NANOG, and OCT3/4 that, during spermatogonia differentiation, are gradually suppressed, and substituted by the expression of some germ cell specific genes, such as VASA, SOX17, and TSPY. These genes, during normal development of germ cells, are tightly regulated by epigenetic modification, in terms of microRNA expression and DNA methylation. In adolescents and young adults, testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) have a common precursor, the germ cell neoplasia in situ (GCNIS); the hypothesis of their origin from PGCs or gonocytes, whose maturation is altered, is widely accepted. The origin of TGCT, probably starting at early stages of embryogenesis, seems to be a part of the Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome (TDS) where some early PGC/gonocytes, for still unclear reasons, are blocked in their differentiation, retaining their early marker profile. In this paper, current knowledge on the combination of epidemiological and genomic factors, involved in the development of testicular germ cell tumors, is reviewed.

Sertoli cells are located in the testes where they control several key functions in spermatogenesis. Over the past 30 years, Sertoli cells have been upgraded from a simple scaffold-like structural system to a dynamic functional system of intercellular support that delivers potent immunomodulatory and trophic factors. Since the discovery of new Sertoli cell secretory products, these cells have been utilized in experimental cell transplantation and co-transplantation protocols aimed at treating both chronic inflammatory and degenerative disorders. For these reasons, this work reviews the application of both naked and microencapsulated Sertoli cells used in cell transplantation studies of several chronic or autoimmune diseases such as diabetes mellitus, Laron dwarfism, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy and in studies aimed at the prevention of skin allograft rejection.

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