BACKGROUND: This study was designed to assess theroles of oval cells and c-myc mRNA in the process of hepa-tocarcinogenesis and to clarify the function of carcinogenec-myc in the development of hepatocellular carcinom...BACKGROUND: This study was designed to assess theroles of oval cells and c-myc mRNA in the process of hepa-tocarcinogenesis and to clarify the function of carcinogenec-myc in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma( HCC) and the mechanism of inhibitory function of uscha-ridin on HCC in mouse hepatocarcinogenesis.METHODS: A total of 120 clean SD mice were divided intonormal group, cancer induction group, and interventiongroup. The normal group was fed with standard foragewhile the rest two groups were given p-dimethylaminoazo-benzene (DAB) to induce cancer. Thirteen weeks after in-duction of cancer, the two groups were fed with standardforage and water. Once the pattern was set up, the inter-vention group was given uscharidin injection into the ab-dominal cavity from the first week to the 14th week. Onthe 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th,22nd, and 24th week, all mice were killed and biopsiedfrom the liver lobe for pathological analysis. At the sametime, the number of tumor nodes was counted and the ex-pression of c-myc mRNA was tested by RT-PCR.RESULTS: Since the 2nd week after cancer induction, pro-liferated oval cells could be seen in the portal area. Initially,the oval cells appeared in the cortical layer of the portalarea, then proliferated gradually and immigrated into theliver parenchyma. In the period of fibrosis after liver proli-feration, proliferated heaps of oval cells were noted in bothportal and peripheral areas. In the period of carcinomatouschange, oval cells could be seen both outside and inside ofcancer nodes, but most of them were distributed outside.The c-myc gene was expressed negatively in the liver tissueof mice. The quantity of the expression began to increaseat the time of infection of the liver and tended to increasewith the degree of hepatic injury. In the period of cancera-tion, the expression level of c-myc mRNA increased gra-dually. The intervention of uscharidin could not inhibit butdelay the increase of the expression of c-myc mRNA.CONCLUSION: Oval cells are closely related to hepatocar-cinoma cells, which play an important role in the occur-rence and development of hepatocarcinogenesis. Uschari-din can inhibit the occurrence of hepatocarcinogenesis orlocal spreading at the early stage of cancer induction byDAB, but it cannot inhibit the expression of c-myc.展开更多
基金This work was supported by two grants from the Science Fundation ofGuangdong Province, China (No. 010593 No. 020097).
文摘BACKGROUND: This study was designed to assess theroles of oval cells and c-myc mRNA in the process of hepa-tocarcinogenesis and to clarify the function of carcinogenec-myc in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma( HCC) and the mechanism of inhibitory function of uscha-ridin on HCC in mouse hepatocarcinogenesis.METHODS: A total of 120 clean SD mice were divided intonormal group, cancer induction group, and interventiongroup. The normal group was fed with standard foragewhile the rest two groups were given p-dimethylaminoazo-benzene (DAB) to induce cancer. Thirteen weeks after in-duction of cancer, the two groups were fed with standardforage and water. Once the pattern was set up, the inter-vention group was given uscharidin injection into the ab-dominal cavity from the first week to the 14th week. Onthe 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th,22nd, and 24th week, all mice were killed and biopsiedfrom the liver lobe for pathological analysis. At the sametime, the number of tumor nodes was counted and the ex-pression of c-myc mRNA was tested by RT-PCR.RESULTS: Since the 2nd week after cancer induction, pro-liferated oval cells could be seen in the portal area. Initially,the oval cells appeared in the cortical layer of the portalarea, then proliferated gradually and immigrated into theliver parenchyma. In the period of fibrosis after liver proli-feration, proliferated heaps of oval cells were noted in bothportal and peripheral areas. In the period of carcinomatouschange, oval cells could be seen both outside and inside ofcancer nodes, but most of them were distributed outside.The c-myc gene was expressed negatively in the liver tissueof mice. The quantity of the expression began to increaseat the time of infection of the liver and tended to increasewith the degree of hepatic injury. In the period of cancera-tion, the expression level of c-myc mRNA increased gra-dually. The intervention of uscharidin could not inhibit butdelay the increase of the expression of c-myc mRNA.CONCLUSION: Oval cells are closely related to hepatocar-cinoma cells, which play an important role in the occur-rence and development of hepatocarcinogenesis. Uschari-din can inhibit the occurrence of hepatocarcinogenesis orlocal spreading at the early stage of cancer induction byDAB, but it cannot inhibit the expression of c-myc.
