Abstract:

BACKGROUND: There have been more reports describing subcutaneous implantation of Huh7 hepatocellular carcinoma cells into BALB/c nude mice to induce hepatocellular carcinoma, but little is known about the stability after tumor formation.
OBJECTIVE: To establish nude mouse models of stable subcutaneous hepatocellular carcinoma.
METHODS: 1.5×10⁶ Huh7 hepatocellular carcinoma cells were subcutaneously implanted into nude mice. After tumor formation, hepatocellular carcinoma stability and pathological characterization were performed in terms of body mass, gross anatomy, and tumor growth by reverse transplantation-polymerase chain reaction, hematoxylin-eosin staining, and immunohistochemical staining.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The latency of tumor formation was about 12 days, and success rate of tumor formation was 92.8%. In the tumor group, the body mass of nude mice was less compared with the control group, tumor developed rapidly, α-fetoprotein gene and protein expression was strongly positive, and hepatocellular carcinoma cells divided obviously. These findings suggest successful establishment of nude models of subcutaneously implanted hepatocellular carcinoma.