{"entity":{"id":"yolk-sac-tumour-postpubertal","kind":"cancer","name":"Yolk sac tumour of the testis, postpubertal type","aka":["Yolk sac tumour","Yolk sac tumor","Endodermal sinus tumour","Endodermal sinus tumor","Yolk sac tumour, postpubertal-type","Glandular yolk sac tumour"],"tldr":"Yolk sac tumour is a germ cell tumour whose cells copy the yolk sac of an early embryo and make the protein alpha-fetoprotein, which is measured in the blood to track it. In adults it almost always occurs mixed with other non-seminoma components and is cured with cisplatin chemotherapy; the pure infant form is a different, gentler disease covered on the childhood page.","summary":"The 2016 WHO classification splits yolk sac tumour into a postpubertal type, derived from germ cell neoplasia in situ and almost always part of a mixed non-seminoma, and a prepubertal type, unrelated to GCNIS, that is the commonest malignant testicular tumour of infants (Moch 2016). It grows in reticular, microcystic, endodermal sinus (Schiller-Duval body), papillary, glandular, solid and other patterns, secretes alpha-fetoprotein, and stains for glypican-3 and SALL4. Its importance in adults extends beyond the primary: among 124 somatic-type malignancies arising from testicular germ cell tumours, 7 of 45 adenocarcinomas were reclassified as glandular yolk sac tumour on glypican-3 and alpha-fetoprotein positivity, supporting a frequent yolk sac origin of the glandular tumours that appear in late relapse (Am J Surg Pathol 2014). In 33 pure yolk sac tumours of boys aged 5 to 71 months, 24 were disease-free and 8 developed metastases, with size over 4.5 cm, rete or epididymal invasion and necrosis predicting a poor outcome in stage I (Am J Surg Pathol 2015).\n\nHow it differs from its parent: it is the alpha-fetoprotein-producing component of non-seminoma, so a raised AFP after treatment signals yolk sac elements; it is the usual source of the chemoresistant glandular late relapses; and its prepubertal type belongs on the childhood germ cell page rather than here.\n\nHow common: no separate incidence figure in the sources read.\n\nTreatment: as non-seminoma by stage and risk group with BEP, and resection of residual masses; late relapses with somatic-type or glandular yolk sac elements are treated surgically because they respond poorly to chemotherapy (Am J Surg Pathol 2014).","asOf":"2026-09-24","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endodermal_sinus_tumor","links":[{"label":"NCI PDQ: testicular cancer treatment","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/treatment"},{"label":"Moch 2016, European Urology: the 2016 WHO classification of urinary and male genital tumours, part A","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2016.02.029"},{"label":"Am J Surg Pathol 2014: somatic-type malignancies from testicular germ cell tumours, 124 cases, frequent yolk sac tumour origin","url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/pas.0000000000000262"},{"label":"Am J Surg Pathol 2015: yolk sac tumour of the testis in infants and children, 33 cases","url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/pas.0000000000000432"},{"label":"Am J Surg Pathol 2004: OCT4 staining in testicular tumours, a marker for seminoma and embryonal carcinoma","url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/00000478-200407000-00014"}],"tags":["subtype-page","wave4","testicular","rare"],"related":["non-seminoma","testicular","embryonal-carcinoma-testis","testicular-choriocarcinoma","paediatric-germ-cell-tumours"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["bleomycin","etoposide","cisplatin"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["afp","tumour-markers"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"group":"genitourinary","burden":"A component of 38 of 64 mixed germ cell tumours in a marker study (Am J Surg Pathol 2004); pure yolk sac tumour is rare in adults and is the usual germ cell tumour of infants, where it has its own biology (Am J Surg Pathol 2015). No registry figure was found in the sources read.","subtypes":["Yolk sac tumour, postpubertal type, in a mixed germ cell tumour (the usual adult form)","Pure yolk sac tumour, postpubertal type (rare)","Glandular yolk sac tumour in late relapse (chemoresistant; surgical)","Yolk sac tumour, prepubertal type (infants; on the childhood germ cell page)"],"biomarkers":["Serum alpha-fetoprotein","Glypican-3, SALL4 and alpha-fetoprotein immunohistochemistry","Schiller-Duval bodies","Isochromosome 12p (postpubertal type only)"],"standardOfCare":[{"setting":"All stages","approach":"Treated as non-seminoma by stage and risk group with BEP and resection of residual masses; late glandular relapses are resected.","refs":["non-seminoma","testicular","bleomycin","etoposide","cisplatin","afp"]}],"stateOfArt":[],"history":[],"pipeline":[],"openProblems":[],"parent":"non-seminoma"},"route":"/cancers/yolk-sac-tumour-postpubertal/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"testicular-choriocarcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Choriocarcinoma of the testis","route":"/cancers/testicular-choriocarcinoma/"},{"id":"embryonal-carcinoma-testis","kind":"cancer","name":"Embryonal carcinoma of the testis","route":"/cancers/embryonal-carcinoma-testis/"},{"id":"paediatric-germ-cell-tumours","kind":"cancer","name":"Germ cell tumours of childhood and adolescence (extracranial and CNS)","route":"/cancers/paediatric-germ-cell-tumours/"},{"id":"non-seminoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-seminomatous germ cell tumour","route":"/cancers/non-seminoma/"},{"id":"testicular","kind":"cancer","name":"Testicular germ cell tumours","route":"/cancers/testicular/"}],"drug":[{"id":"bleomycin","kind":"drug","name":"Bleomycin","route":"/drugs/bleomycin/"},{"id":"cisplatin","kind":"drug","name":"Cisplatin","route":"/drugs/cisplatin/"},{"id":"etoposide","kind":"drug","name":"Etoposide","route":"/drugs/etoposide/"}],"term":[{"id":"afp","kind":"term","name":"Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)","route":"/terms/afp/"},{"id":"tumour-markers","kind":"term","name":"Tumour markers (CEA, LDH, chromogranin, thyroglobulin)","route":"/terms/tumour-markers/"}]}}