The overall objective is to elucidate the signaling pathways that promote the development of liver tumors in female mice as an approach to understanding the mechanism of action of hepatocarcinigenetic chemicals for which chronic exposure preferentially induces liver tumors in females. The specific objectives can be identified as following:
1. To identify the female-specific pathways for tumor promotion in mice
2. To study the gene expression profile in preneoplastic hepatocytes and neoplastic hepatocytes in promoter-treated mice
3. To do the molecular cloning of the Hcf1 locus (proposed cancer susceptibility gene) and other possible candidate genes