Captopril treatment in rats with DEN-induced cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Liver cirrhosis is well-established risk factor of HCC development, although prevention of HCC in cirrhosis patients is challenging. By utilizing bioinformatic compound screening based on a clinical HCC-risk-predicitve gene signature, we identified captopril as a potential HCC chemoprevention agent. We tested the drug in rats with diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced cirrhosis and HCC, and confirmed its HCC-preventive effect. To evaluate effect of captopril for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) chemoprevention, rats with diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cirrhosis and HCC were treated with the drug or vehicle. Liver tissues were harvested for transcriptome profiling by RNA-Seq.