SCID MICE AS AN IN-VIVO MODEL OF HUMAN CORD-BLOOD HEMATOPOIESIS

Cord blood is increasingly used as an alternative stem cell source for autologous and allogeneic transplantation, particularly in pediatric patients, We therefore adopted our protocol for transplanting human ad ult bone marrow cells into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice [1] to develop an in vivo model for cord blood hematopoiesis. Intrave nous injection of unfractionated or Ficoll-separated cord blood cells into sublethally irradiated SCID mice led to high levels of human hema topoiesis in the majority of the recipients [2]. Multilineage human he matopoiesis including committed and multipotential myeloerythroid prog enitors as well as CD19(+) B-lymphoid cells were observed in the murin e bone marrow for at least 18 weeks, Together, these data indicate tha t the SCID mice were engrafted with an immature cell that was able to maintain multiple progenitor lineages in vivo. In contrast to our expe riences with adult bone marrow, high levels of human cell engraftment in the mouse could be achieved without exogenous cytokine treatment, s uggesting that the cord blood cells respond differently to the murine microenvironment, Alternatively, the cord blood cells might have been able to provide themselves with the necessary growth factors in a para crine fashion. This model will be useful in gaining new insights into the biology of immature human cord blood progenitors and cord blood tr ansplantation.