Trial Information

Genomic Signatures of Malignant Germ Cell Tumor Progression: A Retrospective Study of Banked Specimens

OBJECTIVES:

- Explore inter-tumoral heterogeneity in DNA methylation by tumor histology.

- Determine the genomic methylation pattern in the tumors.

- Correlate methylation pattern with tumor histology and clinical characteristics.

- Carry out exome capture and massively parallel sequencing on selected germ cell tumors
(GCTs) and matched normal tissue.

- Perform exome capture and Solexa sequencing on a selected set of GCTs.

- Validate candidate mutations in an independent set of tumors.

OUTLINE: Archived blood and tumor tissue samples are analyzed for genomic methylation
pattern, exome capture and sequencing, and candidate mutations by methylation-specific PCR
techniques, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, and Solexa sequencing methods.
Results are validated by using pyrosequencing assays and primer-extension assays.
Methylation pattern is also associated with each patient's tumor histology and clinical
data.