AIM:To investigate the frequency of genomic instability inmurine hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines Hca/A2-P(P) and Hca/163-F(F) with low and high metastatic capacity,and to explore its association with the occurrence andmetastasis of hepatocellular carcinomas.METHODS:Forty microsatellite markers were randomlyselected to examine P and F cells for genomic instabilityusing PCR-simple sequence length polymorphism (PCR-SSLP) analysis.RESULTS:Allelic genes on the chromosomes of P cell linewith thirty informative microsatellite loci were paralleled tothose of inbred strain C_3H mouse,while those of F cell linewith 28 loci were paralleled to those of inbred strain C_3Hmice.The frequency of microsatellite alterations was 37.5%and 42.5% in P cell line and F cell line,respectively.Therewere different alterations of allelic band 9 at loci between Pand F cells,among which,the frequency of microsatellitealterations was most commonly seen on chromosomes 3,7,11 and 16.CONCLUSION:Genomic instability in mouse chromosomes3,7,11 and 16 may play a more important role in thedevelopment and progression of HCC in mice.It is suggestedthat these two sub-clones derived from a same hepatic tumorin homozygous mouse present different genetic features. AIM: To investigate the frequency of genomic instability in murine hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines Hca / A2-P (P) and Hca / 163-F (F) with low and high metastatic capacity, and to explore its association with the occurrence and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinomas. METHODS: Forty microsatellite markers were randomly selected to examine P and F cells for genomic instability using PCR-simple sequence length polymorphisms (PCR-SSLP) analysis .RESULTS: Allelic genes on the chromosomes of P cell line with thirty informative microsatellite loci were paralleled tothose of inbred strain C_3H mouse, while those of F cell line with 28 loci were paralleled to those of inbred strain C_3Hmice. The frequency of microsatellite alterations was 37.5% and 42.5% in P cell line and F cell line, respectively. Everywere different alterations of allelic band 9 at loci between Pand F cells, among which, the frequency of microsatellite access is the most commonly seen on chromosomes 3, 7, 11 and 16. CONCLUSION: Genomic instab ility in mouse chromosomes 3, 7, 11 and 16 may play a more important role in the development and progression of HCC in mice. It is suggested that these two sub-clones derived from a same hepatic tumor in homozygous mouse present different genetic features.