Several new potentially biologically important genes were identified, most particularly a group of genes associated with the germ cell state and/or pluripotency—PRDM14, TDRD12, DDX43, MNS1, RBMXL2 and Klf4. Silencing of these factors that normally suppress somatic differentiation could be a mandatory step in the progression from seminoma to non-seminoma. The gene discussed is TDRD12; the disease is seminoma.