Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows clear sex disparity with men being more prone to developing HCC and having higher mortality than women. Previous studies have indicated that sex hormones play important roles in HCC initiation and development, but the effects of sex hormones on HCC in clinical trials remain inconsistent. Using zebrafish liver tumor model co-induced by oncogenes Myc and xmrk, we observed similar sex disparity between male and female zebrafish in liver tumor progression and regression; i.e. male Myc/xmrk transgenic zebrafish developed HCC significantly faster and regressed HCC significantly slower than female Myc/xmrk transgenic zebrtafish. To investigate the effects of sex hormones on liver tumor progression and regression, Myc/xmrk fish were treated with either androgen or estrogen, we observed that androgen promoted HCC progression and retarded HCC regression in females, while estrogen attenuated HCC progression and accelerated HCC regression in males. Furthermore, androgen promoted cell proliferation while estrogen inhibited it. Overall, the present study suggested that sex hormones affected liver tumor progression and regression in the Myc/xmrk transgenic zebrafish.
Keywords: 11-Ketotestosterone (KT11); 17β-Estradiol (E2); Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver cancer; Sex hormones; Zebrafish.
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