[Establishment and experimental study of a transplantable hepatocellular carcinoma model in 615-strain mice (H 615)]

H 615, the first transplantable mouse liver carcinoma model established in China, was derived from a spontaneous hepatocellular carcinoma of an inbred 615 mouse and has been successfully propagated for 52 generations during the past 7 years and more. Its biologic and pathologic features are relatively stable. H 615 was a syngenic transplantable tumor model of 615-strain mice with a successful transplantation rate of 85.6% without spontaneous regression. The course of tumor growth after subcutaneous inoculation was divided into 4 stages: latent, slowly growing, rapidly growing and terminal stages. Cancer metastasis was rare. The tumor-bearing host would die of cachexia finally. The mean survival time was 62.2 +/- 11.0 days regardless of sex or age. Histologically and ultrastructurally, H 615 was a well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma, rather resembling human liver carcinoma. The short-term primary passage culture of H 615 showed that, in vitro, tumor tissue could easily grow into monolayer, the majority of which appeared as epithelioid cells in cytomorphology. Therapeutic tests of 15 anticancer drugs showed that H 615 was sensitive, in varying degrees, to 5 drugs, i. e. MMC, Thio-Tepa, 5FU, CPT and DACT. The inhibition rate of MMC and Thio-Tepa could be as high as 100%. These experimental results are similar to those of the human liver cancer chemotherapy. Hence, the authors believe that H 615 may be a useful model in experimental study of the liver cancer and screening of anticancer drugs.