Metastatic models of human liver cancer in nude mice orthotopically constructed by using histologically intact patient specimens.

In this study of orthotopic implantation of histologically intact surgical specimens, the authors constructed metastatic models of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in nude mice. Histologically intact human liver cancer specimens, derived from patients, were implanted directly into the liver of nude mice, and their orthotopic growth and metastases were observed. The transplantability and metastatic rate of two specimen groups (primary and metastatic lesions) were analysed. alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP) was also determined in transplanted tumours by an immunohistochemical method. Orthotopic growth was observed in 14 of 30 transplanted specimens and formation of metastases in 7 cases, which exhibited the variety of clinical behaviours seen in patients with HCC. These behaviours included local growth, regional invasion, spontaneous intrahepatic, lymph node and lung metastasis and peritoneal seeding. In two groups the growth rate of metastatic lesions following implantation was clearly higher than that of primary tumours. Chromosome analysis from locally growing tumours confirmed their morphologically human origin. An immunohistochemical study showed that implanted tumours originating from AFP-positive specimens maintained AFP expression. These results indicated that the animal models should prove valuable for developing new treatment modalities and studying the mechanism of metastasis of human HCC.