Establishment Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Model Induced By Diethylnitrosamine In Hamster And The Research For Xenografts

Objective: Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is a predominant malignancy in liver. The third of the mortality in all of the tumor is hepatic carcinoma. HCC is a serious threat to people’s health and life. It has a high incidence level in China, 110,000 people died from liver cancer every year. So diagnosis early and treatment early are very vital to improve the survival status of patients with liver carcinoma. In recent years, scientists use animal models to simulate the human hepatoma for early diagnosis and targeted therapy methods. Therefore it is necessary to establish a stable hepatic carcinoma experiment model. At present, there are a great number of methods to establish the animal model, they all have advantages and disadvantages. In this experiment, we want to establish the hepatocellular carcinoma model induced by diethylnitrosamine(DEN) in hamsters.Methods: twenty-four hamsters, weight from 70 to 100 g were randomly divided into experimental group(n=12) and control group(n=12). The experimental group was injected DEN through abdominal cavity and administrated DEN solution in water. The control group was injected same quantitative physiological salt solution and drinking normal water. And the pathological morphology was observed by HE staining. Surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma specimens were implanted in nude mice. The xenograft tumors were surgically removed and passaged to new nude mice when they reach approximately 1-2cm3 in volume. We observed the growth process and histological property of the xenograft tumors.Results: Pathology results confirm that 8 hamsters in experimental group were hepatocellular carcinoma, the incidence rate of liver cancer was 66.7%(8/12). The procession of hepatocarcinogenesis in this model included three stages—hepatic toxic lesion, cirrhosis and hepatic carcinogenesis. The rate of implanted tumor in the nude mice was 62.5%(5/8), 87.5%(7/8), 50%(4/8) and 62.5%(5/8). Tumor grafts replicated the primary tumors histologically.Conclusions: Liver cancer model of hamster induced by DEN was established successfully and easily, the rate of induced hepatocarcinoma was high and preferably simulated the development process of human liver cancer. It can be used as a new and dynamic animal model.