Most acute leukemias occurring in patients with mediastinal germ cell tumors (MGCTs) appear to be primary rather than therapy-related; however, no data have been obtained to date to confirm the hypothesized germ cell origin of the leukemias in this syndrome. We identified six male patients with this syndrome treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center: in all six, the leukemia was studied immunohistochemically for various hematologic and germ cell antigens; in four, the karyotype of the leukemia was available; in one, the MGCT had also been karyotyped. In three patients, we found evidence of a germ cell origin of the acute leukemias. A 19-year-old male developed an acute myeloblastic leukemia 11 months after presenting with an MGCT; karyotypes of the two tumors showed them to be clonally related, both showing an i(12p), a cytogenetic marker of germ cell tumors. A 16-year-old male with probable Klinefelter's syndrome presented simultaneously with acute monocytic leukemia and an MGCT; although the MGCT was not karyotyped, the leukemia showed an i(12p). A 23-year-old male developed concurrently an MGCT and acute myelomonocytic leukemia; the leukemia cells coexpressed myelomonocytic antigens (HAM56, My4, My9) and cytokeratin, suggesting dual differentiation, myeloid and germ cell. Evidence for a germ cell origin of the acute leukemias in the three other patients was not obtained, although in all three the MGCT and the leukemia occurred simultaneously, supporting an etiologic relationship. Hence, these leukemias may represent another form of non-germ cell malignancy developing in germ cell tumors. All patients died of the leukemia, with a median survival of less than 2 months. This syndrome may be a useful pathologic model for the study of germ cell differentiation and hematopoietic ontogeny.