Hepatocarcinogenesis in the LEC rat with hereditary hepatitis

A new mutant developing spontaneous hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma has been discovered among Long Evans rats. Hepatitis appears suddenly in the mutant, Long Evans Cinnamon (LEC) rats, three to four months after birth. Characteristic clinical signs of the hepatitis are jaundice, bilirubinuria, subcutaneous bleeding and loss of body weight. The affected rats showed a high mortality and histological changes with focal necrosis of hepatocytes and infiltration of a few inflammatory cells. Genetic studies indicate that a single autosomal recessive gene is responsible for the hepatitis. Long-surviving rats show chronic hepatitis, and subsequently develop hepatocellular carcinoma at one and a half years of age. We recently found an abnormal copper accumulation in the liver of LEC rats prior to development of the hepatitis. Copper concentration in the liver is over 40 times more than that of normal Long Evans Agouti (LEA) rats, whereas the serum ceruloplasmin and copper levels are lower. An excess of toxic-form copper, free copper, will cause DNA damage in the presence of free radicals and oxygen radicals. Such DNA damage by the radicals is considered to be responsible for hepatic necrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in LEC rats.