Gain of chromosomes 15 and 19 is frequent in both mouse hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and primary tumors, but loss of chromosomes 4 and 12 is detected only in the cell lines

Chromosomal alterations were investigated in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, primary tumors and liver epithelial cell lines derived from normal l ivers of C57BL/6J x C3H/HeJ F-1 and C3H/HeJ x C57BL/6J F-1 mice. In the pri mary tumors, non-random gain of chromosomes 15 and 19 was found in seven an d five of 14 hepatocellular carcinomas, respectively. On the other hand, in the cases of both liver epithelial and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines , frequent changes were loss of chromosomes 4 (4/9 cell lines) and 12 (3/9) as well as gain of chromosomes 15 (5/9) and 19 (4/9), These results indica te that the chromosomal gain is associated with both in vivo carcinogenesis and establishment of cell lines, while the loss is specific for the latter . PCR analysis using polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers revealed that t he loss of chromosome 12 as well as chromosome 4 was much more frequent for the C57BL/6J hepatocarcinogenesis-resistant rather than the susceptible C3 H/HeJ strain.