Embryoid Bodies and Related Proliferations in Ovarian Germ Cell Tumors

Abstract

We investigated the frequency and associated pathology of embryoid bodies in ovarian tumors by evaluating neoplasms in which they are known to occur: 100 immature teratomas, 125 malignant mixed germ cell tumors, and 6 polyembryomas. Three immature teratomas contained a single relatively well-formed embryoid body, whereas these and 11 others showed foci we categorized as embryoid body remnants consisting of microscopic aggregates of embryonal or yolk sac-type epithelium associated with spaces consistent with yolk sac or amniotic cavity but lacking a classic embryoid body structure. Teratomas with these foci were all high grade. A well-formed embryoid body was found in only 1 malignant mixed tumor, but embryoid body remnants were present in 25%, invariably associated with foci of immature teratoma (100%) and often with yolk sac tumor (97%), embryonal carcinoma (35%), or both (32%). These foci usually took the form of round to oval aggregates, often well-circumscribed, for which the term “polyembryoma background” has been proposed. The polyembryomas were typically grossly hemorrhagic and occurred in patients from 9 to 43 years of age. The embryoid bodies in them generally grew in lobules within an edematous to occasionally myxoid stroma. Four tumors contained liver-like cells, 4 numerous glands likely recapitulating the allantois, 3 syncytiotrophoblast cells, 2 prominent cysts, and 2 striking vascular proliferations. This study indicates that (1) typical embryoid bodies are rare in immature teratomas but about 14% of them have embryoid body remnants. (2) Embryoid body remnants are seen in 25% of malignant mixed germ cell tumors with a teratomatous component and often proliferate to form yolk sac tumor and embryonal carcinoma. (3) Well-formed embryoid bodies growing in a confluent manner (polyembryoma) are rare, and minor foci of teratoma, yolk sac tumor, or embryonal carcinoma are almost always present, indicating that these are fundamentally malignant mixed germ cell tumors but the polyembryoma component is dominant and distinctive which, in our opinion, justifies its own nomenclature. (4) Embryoid bodies are not a feature of other germ cell tumors.