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Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most cornmon cancers worldwide that typically occurs on the setting of cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis virus infections. Due to the increase incidence and poor prognosis, HCC is considered as an important public health problem in Egypt. The present study concerned with the abnormal metabolic behavior of tumor cells especially during glucose metabolism as the tumor exhibits increase in glycolytic pathway and HMP-shunt for ATP production and anabolic substrates, such as ribose for nucleic acid synthesis. So possibly the key regulatory enzymes of these pathways as HK & GAPDH and G6PD may be involved in pathogenesis of HCC and can be helpful for diagnosis and prognosis ofHCC in addition to AFP. Possible chemopreventive action of natural plant ”Nigella sativa” was tested in experimental model ofHCC. To can achieve that, a chemically-induced model for hepato-carcinogenesis was . applied using DENA and CCL4. We used 36 male albino rats, equally divided into 4 groups (8 rats/group). The total period of the experiment was 14 weeks. Group I: Untreated normal healthy group Group II (NS): rats received orally 1 g/kg/day of methanolic extract of Nigella sativa (MENS) by gavage for 14 weeks (Nigella control group). Group III (DENA+ CCl4t rats received single LP injection of DEN A (200mglKg) then after 2 weeks received S.C injection of CCl4 (3rnl/Kg/week) for 6 weeks (HCC-induction group). Group IV(NS+DENA+ CCI4}: HCC was induced in animals as in group III but in addition, they were treated with the MENS for 2 weeks before the intake of the carcinogenic substance (DENA+CCI4) and then continued until the end of the experiments (nigella pretreated group ). This study highlighted the role of HK&GAPDH and G6PDH enzymes in hepatocarcinogensis so their activities may be used as serological marker with AFP in diagnosis and monitoring HCC but further study is needed to can determine cut off values of theses enzymes and their activities in chronic hepatitis. Also, it is better to recommend using Nigella sativa in the protection against hepatotoxins and hepatocarcinogens. |