Patient with two secondary somatic-type malignancies in a late recurrence of a testicular non-seminoma: illustration of potential and flaw of the cancer stem cell therapy concept

Abstract

Here, we report the case of a patient with a non-seminoma of the left testicle, with an intestinal-type adenocarcinoma and a low grade leiomyosarcoma in a late recurrence 19 years after initial diagnosis. The history of the patient, alive with disease 21 years after initial treatment, illustrates the potential and flaw of the cancer stem cell therapy concept. In addition, it is proposed that residual mature teratoma can be regarded as normalization of cancer due to embryonic patterning, and the development of a secondary somatic-type malignancy as failure of normalization.