Abstract
Teratomas are a highly differentiated type of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), the most common type of solid cancer in young men. Prominent inflammatory infiltrates are a hallmark of TGCTs, although their compositions and dynamics in teratomas remain elusive. Here, we reached out to characterize the infiltrating immune cells and their activation and polarization state by using high-throughput gene expression analysis of 129.MOLF-Chr19 mice that spontaneously develop testicular teratomas. We showed that inconspicuous testes without any apparent alterations in size or morphology can be clustered into three groups based on their expression of stemness and immune genes, supporting a model in which initial oncogenic transformation elicits a first wave of T-cell infiltration. Moderately and severely enlarged tumorous testes then displayed a progressive infiltration with T cells, monocytes/macrophages, and B cells. Importantly, T cells seem to adopt an inactive state caused by an overexpression of immune checkpoint molecules and the polarization of monocytes/macrophages to an anti-inflammatory phenotype. Our findings are supported by the analysis of metabolic gene expression, which unveiled alterations indicative of tumor growth and immune cell infiltration. Collectively, testicular teratomas, at least in mice, are characterized by a diverse inflammatory infiltrate containing T cells that putatively become inactivated, allowing the tumors to further grow. We believe that these findings may provide a rationale for the development of new immunomodulatory therapies for TGCTs.