Genomic instability of murine hepatocellular carcinomas with low and high metastatic capacities

AIM: To investigate the frequency of genomic instability in murine hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines Hca/A2-P (P) and Hca/163-F(F) with low and high metastatic capacity, and to explore its association with the occurrence and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinomas. METHODS: Forty microsatellite markers were randomly selected to examine P and F cells for genomic instability using PCR-simple sequence length polymorphism (PCR-SSLP) analysis. RESULTS: Allelic genes on the chromosomes of P cell line with thirty informative microsatellite loci were paralleled to those of inbred strain C3H mouse, while those of F cell line with 28 loci were paralleled to those of inbred strain C3H mice. The frequency of microsatellite alterations was 37.5% and 42.5% in P cell line and F cell line, respectively. There were different alterations of allelic band 9 at loci between P and F cells, among which, the frequency of microsatellite alterations was most commonly seen on chromosomes 3, 7, 11 and 16. CONCLUSION: Genomic instability in mouse chromosomes 3, 7, 11 and 16 may play a more important role in the development and progression of HCC in mice. It is suggested that these two sub-clones derived from a same hepatic tumor in homozygous mouse present different genetic features.