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CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) immunoreactivity during rat liver carcinogenesis

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Abstract

To elucidate cell differentiation in liver carcinogenesis, we have studied the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP). C/EBP is a positive-acting transcription factor important for the maintenance of liverspecific functions. It is associated with differentiation and regarded as an anti-proliferative agent. We have studied the expression and localization of C/EBP during sequential rat liver carcinogenesis. Two-color immuno-histochemistry and confocal laser scan microscopy demonstrated C/EBP in hepatocyte nuclei and preneoplastic liver lesions, but not in bile ducts, non-parenchymal cells or oval cells. Both western blotting and immunohistochemistry revealed down-regulation of C/EBP during normal regeneration and when regeneration was inhibited by the carcinogen, 2-acetylaminofluorene. A similar down-regulation was shown by western blotting in hepatocytes grown in culture. Our data suggest that the altered metabolic phenotype of preneoplastic liver lesions was not caused by a change in the expression of C/EBP. Furthermore, the data favor a hepatocyte derivation of preneoplastic liver lesions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Toxicopathology, Institute of Pathology, The National Hospital (Rikshospitalet), University of Oslo, N-0027, Oslo, Norway

    Ellen Skarpen, Birgitte Lindeman & Henrik S. Huitfeldt

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, N-0316, Oslo, Norway

    G. Hege Thoresen & Thoralf Christoffersen

  3. Department of Environmental Medicine, National Institute of Public Health, N-0462, Oslo, Norway

    Marit Låg

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  1. Ellen Skarpen
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  2. Birgitte Lindeman
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  3. G. Hege Thoresen
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  4. Marit Låg
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  5. Thoralf Christoffersen
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  6. Henrik S. Huitfeldt
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Skarpen, E., Lindeman, B., Thoresen, G.H. et al. CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) immunoreactivity during rat liver carcinogenesis. Histochem Cell Biol 104, 287–294 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01464324

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