Transplantable mouse hepatoblastoma: histologic, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study

Hepatoblastoma found adjacent to a liver cell adenoma in an aged (CBA x C57Bl/6)F1 male mouse was transplanted to the syngeneic host and passed through 30 generations. Histologically, tumours that grew on transplantation retained principal morphological features of the primary tumour. Transplanted tumours were negative for AFP and for antigen A6. This antigen in the normal mouse liver is found in epithelial cells lining bile ducts and ductules including the terminal Hering canals. Some of the Hering cells were consistently A6 negative under normal conditions, and the suggestion is made that these A6 negative cells might be the cells of hepatoblastoma origin.