Niels Erik Skakkebaek - Selected Publications#

GERM CELL NEOPLASIA IN SITU (GCNIS)

Niels Skakkebaek was the first to discover the precursor cells for testicular germ cell cancer, Germ Cell Neoplasia In Situ (originally called carcinoma in situ). He subsequently characterized the phenotype of the GCNIS by electron-microscopy showing its gonocyte-like features, and he and his group later discovered several pluripotent markers for GCNIS cells in line with a fetal hypothesis. Early studies by him and his group also established the prevalence of GCNIS in normal populations and risk groups (infertile men, contralateral testis of men with unilateral testicular cancer, cryptorchidism and disorders of sex determination (DSD)). Importantly, he established and optimized testicular biopsy as a tool in early detection of GCNIS and his group was the first to introduce the treatment of GCNIS by local irradiation of the GCNIS bearing testis.

Skakkebaek NE. Possible carcinoma-in-situ of the testis. Lancet. 1972.2:516-7. PMID: 4115573.

Nielsen H, Nielsen M, Skakkebaek NE. The fine structure of possible carcinoma-in-situ in the seminiferous tubules in the testis of four infertile men. Acta pathologica et microbiologica Scandinavica. Section A, Pathology. 1974; 82(2):235-48. PMID: 4364167

Skakkebaek NE. Carcinoma in situ of the testis: frequency and relationship to invasive germ cell tumours in infertile men. Histopathology. 1978; 2(3):157-70 PMID: 27442.

Skakkebaek NE, Berthelsen JG, Giwercman A, Müller J. Carcinoma-in-situ of the testis: possible origin from gonocytes and precursor of all types of germ cell tumours except spermatocytoma. International journal of andrology. 1987; 10(1):19-28.PMID: 3034791.

Almstrup K, Hoei-Hansen CE, Wirkner U, Blake J, Schwager C, Ansorge W, Nielsen JE, SkakkebaekNE, Rajpert-De Meyts E, Leffers H. Embryonic stem cell-like features of testicular carcinoma in situ revealed by genome-wide gene expression profiling. Cancer Res. 2004 Jul 15;64(14):4736-43.PMID:15256440.

Berthelsen JG, Skakkebaek NE, Mogensen P, Sørensen BL. Incidence of carcinoma in situ of germ cells in contralateral testis of men with testicular tumours. Br Med J. 1979 Aug 11;2(6186):363-4. PMID: 226206.

von der Maase H, Giwercman A, Skakkebaek NE. Radiation treatment of carcinoma-in-situ of testis. Lancet. 1986 Mar 15;1(8481):624-5 PMID: 2869338.

Rajpert-De Meyts E, Jørgensen N, Petersen JH, Almstrup K, Aksglaede L, Lauritsen J, Rørth M, Daugaard G, Skakkebaek NE. Optimized detection of germ cell neoplasia in situ in contralateral biopsy reduces the risk of second testis cancer. BJU Int. 2022 Nov;130(5):646-654. doi: 10.1111/bju.15774. Epub 2022 Jun 13. PubMed PMID: 35575005; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9796833.

THE TESTICULAR DYSGENESIS SYNDROME (TDS) hypothesis was proposed after several years of work on environmental aspects of male reproductive health: Skakkebæk NE, Rajpert-De Meyts E, Main KM. Testicular dysgenesis syndrome: an increasingly common developmental disorder with environmental aspects. Hum Reprod. 2001. 16:972-978 PMID: 11331648.

The inspiration originated from a steady rise in fertility problems due to poor semen quality:

Carlsen E, Giwercman A, Keiding N, Skakkebæk NE. 1992. Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during past 50 years. BMJ. 305:609-613 PMID: 1393072.

Skakkebaek NE, Rajpert-De Meyts E, Buck Louis GM, Toppari J, Andersson AM, Eisenberg ML, Jensen TK, Jørgensen N, Swan SH, Sapra KJ, Ziebe S, Priskorn L, Juul A. Male Reproductive Disorders and Fertility Trends: Influences of Environment and Genetic Susceptibility. Physiol Rev. 2016. 96(1):55-97. PMID: 26582516.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS IN DECLINING FERTILITY RATES. In Nature Reviews, Skakkebaek and colleagues have recently proposed biological links between exposures to fossils and male reproductive health problems and declining fertility rates in industrialized countries:

Skakkebæk NE, Lindahl-Jacobsen R, Levine H, Andersson AM, Jørgensen N, Main KM, Lidegaard Ø, Priskorn L, Holmboe SA, Bräuner EV, Almstrup K, Franca LR, Znaor A, Kortenkamp A, Hart RJ, Juul A. Environmental factors in declining human fertility.

Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2022 Mar;18(3):139-157. doi: 10.1038/s41574-021-00598-8.

Niels Skakkebaek's total number of (refereed) publications > 600 . Impact of publications: Web of Science core collection, h-index 122 (January 2023), Google Scholar h-index 158 (January 2023). According to a recent World ranking Skakkebaek was listed among the top 1000 people in medicine: https://research.com/scientists-rankings/medicine

Total list of publications