Hideki Kishida

The copper-chelating agent, trientine, suppresses tumor development and angiogenesis in the murine hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Angiogenesis is now recognized as a crucial process in tumor development, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Since HCC is known as a hypervascular tumor, anti‐angiogenesis is a promising approach to inhibit the HCC development. Trientine dihydrochloride (trientine) is used in clinical practice as an alternative copper (Cu)‐chelating agent for patients with Wilsons disease of penicillamine intolerance. In our study, we examined the effect of Cu‐chelating agents on tumor development and angiogenesis in the murine HCC xenograft model. Although both trientine and penicillamine in the drinking water suppressed the tumor development, trientine exerted a more potent inhibitory effect than penicillamine. In combination with a Cu‐deficient diet, both trientine and penicillamine almost abolished the HCC development. Trientine treatment resulted in a marked suppression of neovascularization and increase of apoptosis in the tumor, whereas tumor cell proliferation itself was not altered. In vitro studies also exhibited that trientine is not cytotoxic for the tumor cells. On the other hand, it significantly suppressed the endothelial cell proliferation. These results suggested that Cu plays a pivotal role in tumor development and angiogenesis in the murine HCC cells, and Cu‐chelators, especially trientine, could inhibit angiogenesis and enhance apoptosis in the tumor with consequent suppression of the tumor growth in vivo. Since trientine is already used in clinical practice without any serious side effects as compared to penicillamine, it may be an effective new strategy for future HCC therapy.

Promoting effects of monomethylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid and trimethylarsine oxide on induction of rat liver preneoplastic glutathione S-transferase placental form positive foci: A possible reactive oxygen species mechanism

Dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) is a major metabolite of inorganic arsenicals, which are epidemiologically significant chemicals in relation to liver cancer in mammals. The present study was conducted to determine the promoting effects of organic arsenicals related to DMA [monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO)] on rat liver carcinogenesis using a liver medium‐term bioassay (the Ito test). Male, 10‐week‐old, F344 rats were given a single i.p. injection of diethylnitrosamine at a dose of 200 mg/kg b.w. as an initiator. Starting 2 weeks thereafter they received 100 ppm of MMA, DMA or TMAO in their drinking water, or no supplement as a control, for 6 weeks. All animals underwent 2/3 partial hepatectomy in week 3 after initiation. Quantification of glutathione S‐transferase placental form (GST‐P)‐positive foci as preneoplastic lesions in liver sections revealed significantly increased numbers and areas in all 3 treated groups compared with controls. Hepatic microsome cytochrome P‐450 content was markedly increased with all 3 arsenic treatments. Markedly elevated CYP 2B1 protein levels and CYP 2B1/2 mRNA levels were thus observed in all cases. The potency of promotion was similar for MMA, DMA and TMAO. Since hydroxyradicals were found to be generated in the relatively early phase while methylated arsenicals were metabolized in liver, the resultant oxidative stress might have promoted lesion development.

Inhibitory effects of lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus, Stapf) extract on the early phase of hepatocarcinogenesis after initiation with diethylnitrosamine in male Fischer 344 rats

Effects of lemon grass extract (LGE) on hepatocarcinogenesis were examined in male Fischer 344 rats, administered diethylnitrosamine (DEN) at three weekly intraperitoneal doses of 100 mg/kg body weight and partially hepatectomized at the end of week 5. LGE was given at dietary concentrations of 0, 0.2, 0.6 or 1.8% from the end of week 4 for 10 weeks. All rats were sacrificed at the end of week 14. LGE reduced the number of putatively preneoplastic, glutathione S-transferase placental form-positive lesions and the level of oxidative hepatocyte nuclear DNA injury, as assessed in terms of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine production. In contrast, LGE did not affect the size of the preneoplastic lesions, hepatocyte proliferative activity, activities of phase II enzymes or hepatocyte extra-nuclear oxidative injury. These results suggest inhibitory effects of LGE on the early phase hepatocarcinogenesis in rats after initiation with DEN.

Development of Hepatocellular Adenomas and Carcinomas Associated with Fibrosis in C57BL/6J Male Mice Given a Choline‐deficient, L‐Amino Acid‐defined Diet

Development of hepatocellular carcinomas in rats caused by a choline‐deficient, L‐amino acid defined (CDAA) diet, usually associated with fatty liver, fibrosis, cirrhosis and oxidative DNA damage, has been recognized as a useful model of hepatocarcinogenesis caused by endogenous factors. In the present study, in order to further explore involved factors and genes, we established an equivalent model in spontaneous liver tumor‐resistant C57BL/6J mice. Six‐week‐old males and females were continuously fed the CDAA diet and histological liver lesions and oxidative DNA damage due to 8‐hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG) were examined after 22, 65 and 84 weeks. In male mice, fatty change and fibrosis were evident at 22 weeks, and preneoplastic foci of altered hepatocytes were seen at an incidence of 8/8 (100%) and a multiplicity of 6.6±4.0 per mouse at 65 weeks. Hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas developed at incidences of 16/24 (66.7%) and 5/ 24 (20.8%), and multiplicities of 1.421±1.32 and 0.29±0.62, respectively, at 84 weeks. The female mice exhibited resistance to development of these lesions. The CDAA diet also increased 8‐OHdG levels in male but not female mice. These results indicate that a CDAA diet causes hepatocellular preneoplastic foci, adenomas and carcinomas associated with fibrosis and oxidative DNA damage in mice, as in rats, providing a hepatocarcinogenesis model caused by endogenous factors in mice.

Age and organ dependent spontaneous generation of nuclear 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in male Fischer 344 rats.

8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) is a major oxidative DNA adduct playing roles in senescence, carcinogenesis and various disease processes. High-performance liquid chromatography with an electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) method has been widely used to assess organ levels of 8-OHdG, and a recently introduced immunohistochemical approach has made it possible to clarify intra-organ localization. In the present study, these methods were employed to reveal age-dependent changes in nuclear 8-OHdG within various tissues of male Fischer 344 rats between 18 fetal days and 104 weeks of age. 8-OHdG was detected in the nuclei of cerebellar small granule and small cortical cells, cerebral nerve cells, and choroid plexus epithelia of the brain and ependymal cells of the spinal cord; parenchymal cells in the anterior lobe of the pituitary and adrenal glands (mainly cortex); bronchial epithelium of the lung; intra-hepatic bile duct, pancreatic duct, glandular gastric and intestinal epithelial cells; renal tubular epithelial cells (mainly medulla); and spermatogonia and spermatocytes of the testis and seminal vesicle epithelia. The nuclear 8-OHdG levels were high (more than two lesions per 106 deoxyguanosines) from 7 days to 104 weeks of age in the brain, 3 to 6 weeks in the adrenal gland, 6 to 104 weeks in the lung, and 3 to 52 weeks in the testis. In the other organs, the nuclear 8-OHdG levels remained low throughout. These findings provide a basis for research dealing with oxidative stress by indicating organ-specific and age- but not aging-dependent changes in the localization of spontaneously generated nuclear 8-OHdG in intact rats. The immunohistochemical approach has advantages for assessing variation of 8-OHdG formation at the cellular level not accessible to the HPLC-ECD method.

Inhibition of Early‐phase Exogenous and Endogenous Liver Carcinogenesis in Transgenic Rats Harboring a Rat Glutathione S‐Transferase Placental Form Gene

Hepatocarcinogenesis initiated with N‐nitrosodiethylamine (DEN) and that initiated by feeding of a choline‐deficient, l‐amino acid‐defined (CDAA) diet were compared in transgenic male Wistar rats harboring a rat glutathione S‐transferase placental form (GST‐P) gene (GST‐P‐Tg rats) and non‐transgenic (N‐Tg) rats. Eight‐week‐old GST‐P‐Tg and N‐Tg rats were administered DEN intraperitoneally at 100 mg/kg body weight, subjected to a selection procedure with 2‐acetylaminofluorene and CCl4, and killed at the end of weeks 5 and 12. Other groups were fed the CDAA diet for 12 weeks and killed. Five weeks after the DEN treatment, numbers and sizes of γ‐glutamyltransferase (GGT)‐ or GST‐P‐positive lesions and 8‐hydroxyguanine (8‐OHG) levels in the livers were significantly less in GST‐P‐Tg rats than in N‐Tg rats. The lesion numbers were unchanged between the ends of weeks 5 and 12 in GST‐P‐Tg rats, but decreased in N‐Tg rats. The lesion sizes were increased in GST‐P‐Tg rats, but unchanged in N‐Tg rats. While the proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling indices (PCNA L.I.) in and surrounding the lesions were decreased, more prominently in GST‐P‐Tg rats than in N‐Tg rats, the 8‐OHG levels were also decreased but similarly in both cases. After 12 weeks on the CDAA diet, the lesion incidences, numbers and sizes, 8‐OHG levels, PCNA L.I. in and surrounding the lesions, and liver injury were significantly less in GST‐P‐Tg rats than in N‐Tg rats. These results indicate that insertion of a rat GST‐P transgene alters the early phase of exogenous and endogenous rat hepatocarcinogenesis, presumably due to enhanced detoxification by GST‐P expressed both transiently during the initiation and chronically in the altered hepatocyte populations.

Nitric oxide production by primary liver cells isolated from amino acid diet-fed rats.

Primary mixed liver cells were isolated from rats that had been fed an amino acid (AA) diet in which natural protein was replaced with a defined mixture of pure AAs. Nitric oxide (NO) production from these cells in vitro was monitored using a nitric oxide (NO)-selective fluorescent probe, diaminofluorescein, followed by flow cytometric analysis. High levels of NO fluorescence were seen in approximately half of liver cells isolated from rats fed an AA diet for 1-7 days, whereas there was baseline fluorescence in cells obtained from regular diet-fed rats. The apparent size of NO-producing cells was smaller than those not producing NO. The production of NO was inhibited when rats were treated with either inducible NO synthase (iNOS)- or endothelial NOS-specific inhibitor, and an inhibitor for iNOS induction during AA diet feeding. L-arginine or L-glutamine (material for L-arginine biosynthesis) enriched diet showed the same NO augmentation as in AA diet. It is speculated that a high content of free L-arginine in AA diet may have caused enhanced NO production.

Enhancement of hepatocarcinogenesis initiated with diethylnitrosamine or N-nitrosobis(2-hydroxypropyl)amine by a choline-deficient, L-amino acid-defined diet administered prior to the carcinogen exposure in rats.

Effects of pre-administration of a choline-deficient, L-amino acid-defined (CDAA) diet on hepatocarcinogenesis initiated with diethylnitrosamine (DEN) or N-nitrosobis(2-hydroxypropyl)amine (BHP) in rats were investigated. A pre-administrating period was set as 1 week, because CDAA diet induces liver injuries by this time-point. In a time-course study, male Fischer 344 rats, 6 weeks old, received a 1-week pre-administration of choline-supplemented, L-amino acid-defined (CSAA) or CDAA diet, DEN at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight by a single intraperitoneal injection, then CSAA or CDAA diet for up to 8 weeks, and were sacrificed 4, 6 and 8 weeks after DEN. CDAA diet administered only after DEN significantly increased the numbers of glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-P)-positive lesions 4, 6 and 8 weeks after DEN and their sizes 6 and 8 weeks after DEN. CDAA diet administered both before and after DEN similarly increased the numbers and sizes of GST-P-positive lesions, but with a significantly greater degree than obtained by the diet administered only after DEN. In a dose response study, rats received vechicle or DEN, at a dose of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 20, 50, 100 or 200 mg/kg body weight, 1 week after the commencement of CSAA or CDAA diet, and sacrificed 8 weeks after vehicle or DEN. The significant increases of the numbers of GST-P-positive lesions were obtained after 50-200 mg/kg body weight of DEN under the CSAA diet administration, whereas those were detected after 10-200 mg/kg under CDAA diet administration. Sizes became significantly larger with only 200 mg/kg body weight of DEN in the CSAA case but with 50-200 mg/kg in the CDAA case. Male Wistar rats received a 1-week pre-administration of CSAA or CDAA diet, vehicle or BHP, at a dose of 600 or 1200 mg/kg body weight, by a single intraperitoneal injection, then CSAA or CDAA diet for 8 weeks, and were then sacrificed. The numbers of GST-P-positive lesions demonstrated significant increment with 1200 mg/kg body weight of BHP by CDAA diet administered only after BHP and, to a significantly greater degree, by the diet administered both before and after BHP. While CDAA diet administered only after BHP did not alter the sizes of GST-P-positive lesions, the diet administered both before and after 600 and 1200 mg/kg body weight of BHP significantly increased the sizes of the lesions. These results indicate that the pre- plus post-administration of CDAA diet enhances hepatocarcinogenesis initiated with DEN or BHP, more than the post-administration only, thus providing a sensitive model to detect weak liver carcinogenic potency of environmental chemicals.