Teratocarcinoma: neoplastic lessons about normal embryogenesis

Abstract excerpt

Germ cell tumors of the testis and the ovary have been studied extensively in humans and experimental animals. Murine teratocarcinomas proved to be one of the best experimental models for elucidating the histogenesis of these tumors and the nature of their undifferentiated stem cells. These spontaneous and experimentally induced tumors, especially those produced from early postimplantation stage embryos, provided...