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. 2019 Jul 7;25(25):3136–3150. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i25.3136

Table 4.

Available techniques for induction of hepatocellular carcinoma in relation to temporal and technical aspects as well as major advantages and disadvantages (summarized from[92])

Method and specification Time to HCC short (+) to long (+++) Technical efforts low (+) to high (+++) Major “Pros” (+) vs “Contras” (-)
Chemotoxic agents linked models
Diethylnitrosamine ++ + (+) good combination options with other methods
9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene (-) time to HCC not easily predictable
Direct implantation of tumor cells or tissue
Heterotopic/orthotopic + +/++ (+) heterotopic xenografts are often and easily done
(+) syngeneic orthotopic models better reflect the natural liver microenvironment
Syngeneic/xenografts (-) xenografts need immunocompromised mice
(-) orthotopic tumor implants need surgical and imaging experience
Genetically engineered mouse models
Mouse embryo manipulation ++/+++ +++ (+) hepatocarcinogenesis can be analyzed stepwise
Cre-Lox recombination (-) effects of manipulated gene(s) could have heterogeneous latency and genetic penetrance
Hydrodynamic injection
CRISPR-Cas9
Humanized mouse models
Immunologically humanized mice +++ +++ (+) immunotherapeutical issues can be studied based on human cell lines in mice
Genetically humanized mice (-) establishment difficult due to engraftment failure and development of stable stem cell-derived hepatocytes

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.