[Hepatitis and hepatocarcinogenesis in the transgenic mice]

Persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is epidemiologically closely associated with the development of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A molecular mechanism that would explain the strong epidemiological link of persistent HBV infection with HCCs is still open to debate. Among HBV carriers, HCC develops only in patients with chronic liver disease, such as chronic active hepatitis, liver fibrosis, or liver cirrhosis. In other words, hepatitis-related proliferative changes, which are mainly sustained by repeating cycles of cell death and regeneration either immunologically or through virus infection, appear important for HBV hepatocarcinogenesis. The same mechanism may also be present in human hepatitis C virus-related hepatocarcinogenesis. In this article, I reviewed animal models of HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis. It is important to evaluate and check whether the animal models are fit with human HBV hepatocarcinogenesis or not.