Gender Disparity of N-nitrosodiethylamine Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Wistar Albino Rats

Cancer is particularly alarming in developing countries like India where life expectancy is increasing rapidly. Over the past 25 years the incidence and mortality rates of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are expected to double over the next 10–20 years.HCC is a transformation process of normal liver cell into a cancerous cell which involves initiation, promotion and progression stages.HCC was induced by administering 0.01% of N-Nitroso diethylamine (DEN) to animals through drinking water for about 15 weeks. DEN induces lethal cellular injuries & initiates carcinogenesis as a result of metabolic activation & transfer of an electrophilic species to DNA. With the help of available literature it can be hypothesized that gender difference is detectable in the occurrence of HCC and hence the present work is an attempt to prove the difference in the rate of cancer progression between the male and female rats when induced with DEN. The level of marker enzymes such as γ-Glutamyl transferase (γ-GT), 5’Nucleotidase was assayed to study the cancer progression while the level of lipid peroxidation(LPO) and protein carbonyl indicated the membrane damage in HCC bearing animals. The male animals showed profound biochemical alterations when compared to the female rats indicating its high HCC incidence rate.