Testicular cancer can be subdivided in seminoma and non-seminoma testis. In seminoma testis in particular, markers for disease progression are lacking currently. Certain histological tumor characteristics could be risk factors for the development of metastases after removal of the testicle. New markers could be used to select patients for adjuvant treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery (retroperitoneal lymph node dissection). These adjuvant treatments are very effective, though burdensome and can induce negative long-term side effects such as cardiovascular disease of secondary cancers. Not all patients are in need of these adjuvant treatments. New predictors of metastases could help to identify those patients who should receive adjuvant treatment, preventing unnecessary treatment in patients without an increased risk of metastatic disease.

Dr. Arnout Alberts received a grant of €45.000,- from the European Association of Urology (EAU) for his research entitled “Identification of predictors of disease relapse in clinical stage I and II seminoma testis through artificial intelligence”. Together with dr. Tahlita Zuiverloon, dr. Willem Boellaard and investigators of the University Clinic of Düsseldorf he will try to identify histological markers in the primary tumor and metastases of seminoma testis patients operated in Rotterdam and Düsseldorf. Immunohistochemical staining for new markers will be performed on tissue stored in the biobank. Tissue slides will be scanned (whole slide imaging) and computer algorithms will be constructed (artificial intelligence) for the identification of markers associated with disease progression. The duration of this post-doctoral research project will be one year (until July 2023).

People working on the project