PRIMARY CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM LYMPHOMA FOLLOWING TRANSFER OF HUMAN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES INTO SCID MICE

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice are genetically deficient in both B and T cells. To study immune-mediated phenomena in the CNS, myelin basic protein-reactive T cell clones, admired with peripheral blood lymphocytes as a source of antigen-presenting cells, derived fro m a healthy human donor, were injected intracerebrally (IC) into 10 SC ID mice, One mouse developed quadriplegia 2 months after the last inje ction. Autopsy revealed marked meningeal and parenchymal infiltration by large cell lymphoma. There was no evidence of lymphoma outside of t he CNS. The majority of the tumor cells were positive for L26 (a human pan B cell marker), with some cells positive for UCHL-1 (a human pan T cell marker). The majority of the tumor cells were also positive for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome by in situ hybridization. Thus, prima ry CNS, EBV-positive B cell lymphoma-can be produced in SCID mice by I C injection of nontransformed human peripheral blood lymphocytes. This phenomenon can be used as a model system for the study of primary CNS lymphomas under immunodeficiency conditions.