Objective: To study the association of drug sensitivity of rat hepatocarcinoma cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to 5 antitumor drug with different antitumor mechanisms with tumorigenicity of the hepatocarcinoma cells in nude mice.
Methods: Primary liver carcinoma was induced with diethylnitrosamine in rats, and the tumor cells and MSCs were obtained from 10 of the rats. The inhibition ratio of the hepatocarcinoma cells and MSCs following treatment with the 5 drugs were measured by MTT assay. The weight of the tumor in nude mice resulting from the injection of the isolated tumor cells treated with the 5 anticancer drugs was measured 6 weeks after implantation. For each anticancer drug, the difference in the inhibition ratio of the anticancer drugs against the hepatocarcinoma cells and MSCs, and he correlation of the inhibition ratio of the anticancer drugs with implanted tumor weight were analyzed.
Results: No correlation was found between the inhibition ratio of the 5 anticancer drugs against the hepatocarcinoma cells and the tumor weight of nude mice, but a significant negative correlation was identified between the inhibition ratio of the MSCs and the tumor weight.
Conclusion: MSCs have similar drug resistance mechanism to the tumor stem cells. The inhibition ratio of the anticancer drugs against the MSCs can help evaluate the invasion potential of hepatocarcinoma cells.