Tumor List

Different body tissue types give rise to different tumors, both benign and malignant. The following tables show the different kinds of tumors each of the following tissue types are vulnerable to:

• Connective Tissue
• Endothelium and Mesothelium
• Blood and Lymphoid Cells
• Muscle
• Epithelial Tissues
• Neural
• APUD System (APUD - Amine Precursor Uptake and Decarboxylation)
• Other Neural Crest-Derived Cells
• Tumors
• Gonadal Tumors

Connective Tissue

Endothelium and Mesothelium

Blood and Lymphoid Cells

Muscle

Epithelial Tissues

Neural

APUD System (APUD - Amine Precursor Uptake and Decarboxylation)

The APUD system is a recently defined series of cells which have endocrine functions in that they secrete one of a variety of small amine or polypeptide hormones. The stored forms of these hormones located in the cytoplasm are small, dense-core membrane-bound granules visible by electron microscopy. Some of these cells appear to be derived from neural crest cells which migrate into a variety of organs. APUD system tissues give rise to the benign and malignant tumors outlined in Table G.

Other Neural Crest-Derived Cells

Tumors

Gonadal Tumors

Terminology for Gonadal tumors or tumors of the ovary and testis is somewhat more confusing. One general class of tumors arises from multi-potential cells that give rise to tumors containing a variety of tissue types, often within the same tumor. These "germ cell" tumors include seminoma (dysgerminoma in women), choriocarcinoma, embryonal carcinoma, endodermal sinus tumor, and teratocarcinoma. Although all of these tumors are most common in the ovaries or testes, they also occur in extragonadal sites.

Another group of Gonadal tumors arises from the connective tissue stroma. In males, these include Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors (homologous tumors in females may be arrhenoblastoma, although most pathologists use "Sertoli-Leydig cell"), and in females, granulose-theca cell tumors, hilar cell tumors, and lipid cell tumors. Although all of these tumors technically arise from the connective tissues, they are given separate names because of the specialized nature and function of the Gonadal stromal cells.

A number of epithelial tumors occur in the ovary. It will be easy to distinguish benign from malignant tumors because they are named in exactly the same way as other epithelial lesions. However, in some lesions, the pathologist may call a tumor "borderline" or "of low malignant potential." These terms are applied to a group of potentially malignant lesions that metastasize much less frequently than the carcinomas.