This project involves studies on the carcinogenic and the metastatic process of hepatocellular carcinoma in nonhuman primates. Diethylnitrosamine (DENA) has proven to be a potent hepatocarcinogen with a short latency period in the monkey colony and was therefore used for tumor induction. Monthly liver biopsies and blood samples are presently being evaluated for different parameters associated with hepatic neoplasia. After almost six months of intraperitoneal administration of DENA there is clear histologic evidence of toxic hepatic changes in contrast to the control animals which received only saline. Hyperplastic nodules or tumors have not been noted yet in the test animals.
