Establishment and characterization of a cell line from a chemically-induced mouse hepatoblastoma

We established a cell line (MHB-2) from a hepatoblastoma (HB) induced by di ethylnitrosamine (DEN) and sodium phenobarbital (PB) in male B6C3F(1) mice and examined the biological characteristics of MHB-2. MHB-2 cells grew as m onolayers in culture and showed a spindle or polygonal shape. Immunohistoch emically, the original tumor cells and MHB-2 cells were negative for kerati n, alpha-fetoprotein and albumin. Electron microscopically, MHB-2 cells had irregular-shaped nuclei with prominent nucleoli, abundant free ribosomes, myelinosomes, desmosomes and surface microvilli. Growth of this cell line w as significantly accelerated by hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and expressi on of its receptor c-met was confirmed by the reverse transcription-polymer ase chain reaction (RT-PCR). MHB-2 however, was not found to be tumorigenic when transplanted into the subcutaneous tissue of syngeneic, nude or scid mice. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the establishment of a cell line derived from a mouse HB. MHB-2 would be useful for further studie s to clarify the biological characteristics of mouse HB.