Boron attenuated diethylnitrosamine induced hepatocellular carcinoma in C3H/HeN mice via alteration of oxidative stress and apoptotic pathway.

BACKGROUND: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulate various cellular signaling pathways and play an important role in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Excessive accumulation of ROS can promote HCC. Trace element boron has a wide range of biological effects, including anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, immune regulation and so on. METHODS: In this study, we investigated the anticancer effects of Sodium tetraborate decahydrate (NaB) in improving oxidative stress and regulating apoptosis in mouse HCC. HCC was induced by intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) 25 mg/kg once at the age of 2 weeks and 100 mg/kg again at the age of 6 weeks in healthy C3H/HeN male mice. At 8 weeks of age, different concentrations of NaB were given intragastric treatment once a day for 20 weeks. Oxidative stress markers, antioxidant status and liver enzyme analysis were detected to evaluate the effectiveness of NaB in inhibiting cancer induction. The anticancer properties of NaB were confirmed by observing the liver index and morphology, and analyzing the expression of apoptotic genes and proteins. Our results showed that boron significantly reduced the production of ROS, and down-regulated the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2 and up-regulated the expression of the pro-apoptotic proteins P53, Bax, and caspase 3. CONCLUSION: Boron has great potential to reduce the effects of oxidative stress, which may help it inhibit the progression of HCC.

[Establishment of primary liver cancer model in mice].

Objective: Three modeling methods were used to establish a mouse primary liver cancer model, and compared them to find a more optimal modeling method. Methods: Forty 15-day-old C3H/HeN male mice were randomly divided into groups I-IV, 10 mice in each group. Group Ⅰ were not treated; Group Ⅱ were intraperitoneally injected with 25 mg/kg diethylnitrosamine (DEN) once; Group Ⅲ were intraperitoneally injected with 100 mg/kg DEN once; Group Ⅳ were intraperitoneally injected with 25 mg/kg DEN once and followed by another intraperitoneal injection of 100 mg/kg DEN at 42 days of age. The mortality of mice in each group was analyzed. At the 18th week of modeling, blood was collected from eyeballs after anesthesia, and liver was taken from abdominal cavity after neck was broken. The appearance of liver, the number of cancer nodules and the incidence of liver tumor were observed. The histopathological changes of liver were observed by HE staining. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were detected. Results: At the 18th week of modeling, compared with the group I, serum levels of ALT and AST in groups II-IV were increased significantly (P＜0.05); The number of cancer nodules and the incidence of tumors in the surviving mice of groups III and IV were also increased significantly (P＜0.05). At the 18th week of modeling, no mice died in both groups I and II, and the incidence of liver cancer was 0%; The incidence of liver cancer in surviving mice in both groups III and IV was 100%, but the mortality rate of mice in group III was as high as 50%, and that in group IV was only 20%. Conclusion: C3H/HeN male mice can successfully establish a mouse liver cancer model by intraperitoneal injection of 25 mg/kg of DEN once at the age of 15 days and another intraperitoneal injection of 100 mg/kg of DEN once at the age of 42 days with short cycle and low mortality, which is an ideal method to establish a primary liver cancer model.