Abstract The present sutdy was designed to assess whether changes in glycolipids and cyclic AMP contents might serve as markers for the diagnosis of malignancy in the liver. The experimental model was a transplantable murine hepatoma. Experimental mice were divided into three groups:(1) a therapeutic group. which had been transplanted with hepatoma and treated with the antimetabolism drug 5-flurouracil(0.2mg/day i.p).(2) a control group, which had been transplanted with hepatoma and treated with 0.2ml 0.9% NaCl day and (3) a normal group of mice . The ganglioside and cAMP contents in the hepatoma tissue, plasma cAMP, total and lipid-bound sialic acid levels and red blood cell memebrane sialic acid levels were determined. Results showed that the ganglioside content, total and lipid-bound sialic acid levels in the control group were significantly higher than those in the livers of normal mice(P<0.01) while these respective values in the therapeutic group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P<0.01).The cAMP levels of tumor tissues and plasma in the control group were lower than those in normal mice. No significant difference in red blood cell membrane sialic acid content was observed between the therapeutic and control groups though levels for both were higher than those in normal mice. These results indicate that ganglioside ocntent and sialic acid levels in hepatoma tissues were significantly elevated, and cAMP levels in hepatoma tissues were significantly decreased during proliferation and abnormal differentiation.Key words transplantable hepatoma, gangliosides , sialic acid, cyclic adenosine mono-phosphate, 5-flurouracil摘自Molecular and cellular biochemistry, 2000; Vol 207,29～33该杂志摘要被美国科学引证索引(SCI)收录