[Relationship between mesenchymal stem cells and liver cancer recurrence after liver transplantation in mice]

To explore the relationship between mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and liver cancer recurrence after liver transplantation in mice.

The recurrent murine model of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation was established by transplanting tumor cells of hind paw pads. MSCs labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) were injected into the marrow cavity of 615 mice after successful modeling. And the proliferation of MSCs in marrow cavity was observed under stereoscopic fluorescence microscope. MSCs labeled with red fluorescent protein (RFP) were injected into tail vein of mice during tumor dissection. The migration of GFP and RFP- labeled MSCs were tracked before and after tumor recurrence. After recurrence, the mice were sacrificed and the recurrent lesions harvested for conforming pathological type by biopsy.

The rate of success modeling was 37.5%. Both gross morphology and pathological examination corresponded to typical HCC manifestations. Thirty mice were detected by GFP/RFP fluorescence for a recurrence of HCC. The outcomes were GFP+RFP (n = 4), GFP (n = 1) and neither (n = 25).

The presence of MSCs in host may be one of important reasons for recurrent HCC after liver transplantation.It helps to support the traditional view of residual tumor cells mediating the relapse and metastasis of HCC.