Nutritional and dietary influences on liver tumorigenesis in mice and rats

There is evidence that liver tumor development in mice can be increased by diets high in calories or fat and by diets low in lipotropes. Data in rats suggest that dietary sucrose or ethanol may have an influence independent of caloric contribution, but the reported results are not entirely consistent. The lipotropic effect on tumorigenesis has been studied extensively in rats and may be the result of several factors, including increased cell proliferation, alteration of macromolecular methylation, changes in cell membrane composition and in xenobiotic metabolism. Comparative studies in mouse liver tumor models may be useful in further investigations.