Review
Experimental models of hepatocellular carcinoma

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2008.01.008Get rights and content
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and deadly cancer whose pathogenesis is incompletely understood. Comparative genomic studies from human HCC samples have classified HCCs into different molecular subgroups; yet, the unifying feature of this tumor is its propensity to arise upon a background of inflammation and fibrosis. This review seeks to analyze the available experimental models in HCC research and to correlate data from human populations with them in order to consolidate our efforts to date, as it is increasingly clear that different models will be required to mimic different subclasses of the neoplasm. These models will be instrumental in the evaluation of compounds targeting specific molecular pathways in future preclinical studies.

Abbreviations

HCC
hepatocellular carcinoma
HCV
hepatitis C virus
TKR
tyrosine kinase receptor
HBV
hepatitis B virus
TSG
tumor suppressor gene
TSP
tissue specific promoter
Tg
transgene

Keywords

Liver cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Mouse models
Genetically engineered mice
Cirrhosis

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P. Newell is a recipient of an American Liver Foundation (ALF) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award (2007). A. Villanueva is supported by grants from the Fundacíon Caixa Galicia and the National Cancer Center. S. Friedman is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases, supported by NIH Grant number DK37340. K. Koike is Chairman of Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Tokyo, supported by grant from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan. J.M. Llovet is Director of the HCC Program in Mount Sinai and Professor of Research-ICREA in the Hospital Clínic Barcelona, supported by National Institute of Health-NIDDK grant 1R01DK076986-01, National Institute of Health-I+D Program (Spain) grant number SAF-2007-61898. The authors declare that they do not have anything to disclose regarding funding from industries or conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript.