Effect of Lithium Carbonate on Giant Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Line-29 (HCC-29) in vitro

The study of mechanism of tumor growth and metastasis is one of the most important trends in biomedical research. For this purpose, lithium salts are actively used in experimental cancer chemotherapy. The aim of our study was to identify the lithium effects on giant hepatocellular carcinoma-29 cells in vitro. Experiments were performed in vitro with hepatocellular carcinoma-29 cell culture (HCC-29). The 5 mM Lithium carbonate was introduced into the cell medium for 6, 24 and 48 h. Cell morphology was determined after culturing HCC-29 with lithium and both the giant cells with one giant nucleus and giant cells with many nuclei in cytoplasm were assessed. It was found, that the mean size of the giant cells was 3-10 times larger than those of the regular cancer cells. Furthermore, a decrease in the number of giant mononuclear and multinuclear HCC-29 cells was observed after lithium treatment. As well as giant cells are present in many types of human tumors, their formation may represent an evolutionarily conserved mechanism, which cancer cells use in response to stress and cancer chemotherapy. The lithium carbonate administration can be useful for elimination giant cancer cells from a tumor.