Ahmed Mohamed Mokhtar¹, Mohamed Fathy Elshafee¹, Ahmed Mohamed Mansour¹, El-Sayed Mohamed El-Sayed^1,

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common liver cancer-causing the high rate of mortality worldwide. The present study evaluates the possible protective role of lycopene during diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced HCC in rats for 16 weeks. A patch of 60 male rats was divided according to the required treatment into 6 groups. DEN was given to rats in drinking water (100 mg/L) to induce HCC. In the present study. The groups supplied with lycopene were administered with lycopene at 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg BW/orally/daily during the experiment. The DEN alone administered group induced alterations in all the investigated parameters. The lycopene pretreated DEN groups showed significant ameliorations in a dose-dependent manner against the deleterious alterations of DEN in the biological markers, oxidative stress, liver function, lipid profile, hematological parameters, serum inflammatory markers (TNF-α and IL-6), immunohistochemical markers, caspase-3 liver content and histopathological changes, where the lycopene dose of 20 mg/kg showed better ameliorative effects. In conclusion, the oral administration of lycopene provides considerable protective effects against DEN-induced HCC which suggested the potential efficacy of lycopene as an additional chemopreventive agent in the treatment of HCC.

lycopene, diethylnitrosamine, hepatocellular carcinoma, apoptosis, oxidative stress