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| Author(s): |
Tânia Cristina Lima Portela
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB/SDI) |
| Defense date: | 2015-04-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Jose Roberto Machado Cunha da Silva;
Bruno Cogliati;
Vanessa Morais Freitas;
Fernando Salvador Moreno;
Marilia Cerqueira Leite Seelaender
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| Advisor: | Jose Roberto Machado Cunha da Silva; Francisco Javier Hernandez Blazquez |
| Abstract | |
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the main cause of death in patients with liver cirrhosis. The prognosis for HCC is very poor; it is an aggressive tumor that progresses rapidly and therefore early diagnosis is the only way to increase the survival of these patients. This study suggests the thioacetamide (TAA) as experimental model of carcinogenesis in cirrhotic microenvironment and seeks to identify the initial mechanisms of tumor development during cirrhosis. In this study, male Wistar rats were injected ip with TAA 3 times / week for 14, 21 to 35 weeks. We examined the effects on liver function, morphology, characteristics and development of preneoplastic lesions (PNLs), as well as tissue gene expression and the most common tumor markers in HCC. Treatment with TAA made changes that comprised the deposition of scar tissue in the liver cirrhosis, inflammation, increased cell proliferation and apoptosis, PNLs development and changes in the expression of tumor markers. The cellular and structural changes of the liver tissue resulted in reduced weight gain of the animals and an increase in liver weight and volume proportional to the treatment time. The histological activity index was higher in cirrhotic liver and achieved greater value after 35 weeks of treatment. Blood markers of liver damage in the treated animals increased while the function markers showed improvement over time. The alpha-fetoprotein levels were higher after 14 weeks of treatment. The administration of TAA for 21 weeks resulted in a greater number of PNLs, with a predominance of persistent lesions over remodeling lesions in number and size. Cell proliferation was exacerbated in cirrhotic livers and was higher in 14 weeks with a significant reduction after 35 weeks. The number of apoptotic corpuscles was higher in cirrhotic tissue and apoptosis was more pronounced in 21 weeks. Immunohistochemical panel of GPC3, HSP70 and GS showed higher rates of HSP70 + GS combination, since GPC3 expression was low in all groups. The analysis of molecular markers GPC3, surviving, and LYVE1 agreeded with the results obtained in the PNLs. Survivin gene expression was higher in 14 weeks, when it was observed also increased proliferation and decreased during treatment. The expression of LYVE1 decreased in groups of 14 and 21 weeks, however, was significantly higher in 35 weeks. From the results obtained, we conclude that the TAA model was suitable for induction of cirrhosis and the onset of hepatocarcinogenesis. The stages of initiation and promotion were identified in all periods, however, the TAA proved to be an important tool for the promotion phase increasing cell proliferation and size of PNLs. Treatment for 21 weeks was more effective in combining the initiation and promotion of hepatocarcinogenesis, as shown by the number and size of the lesions. However, no group has developed HCC indicating that the TAA probably needs to be associated with other substances because its primary effect is like promoting agent. (AU) | |