A novel mouse model of hepatocarcinogenesis triggered by AID causing deleterious p53 mutations

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), the only enzyme that is known to be able to induce mutations in the human genome, is required for somatic hypermutation and class-switch recombination in B lymphocytes. Recently, we showed that AID is implicated in the pathogenesis of human cancers including hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we established a new AID transgenic mouse model (TNAP-AID) in which AID is expressed in cells producing tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP), which is a marker of primordial germ cells and immature stem cells, including ES cells. High expression of TNAP was found in the liver of the embryos and adults of TNAP-AID mice. HCC developed in 27% of these mice at the age of approximately 90 weeks. The HCC that developed in TNAP-AID mice expressed alpha-fetoprotein and had deleterious mutations in the tumour suppressor gene Trp53, some of which corresponded to those found in human cancer. In conclusion, TNAP-AID is a mouse model that spontaneously develops HCC, sharing genetic and phenotypic features with human HCC, which develops in the inflamed liver as a result of the accumulation of genetic changes.