THE USEFULNESS OF SEVERE COMBINED IMMUNODEFICIENCY (SCID) MICE TO STUDY HUMAN CARCINOGENESIS

In the present study, we engrafted normal colonic epithelia and histol ogically diagnosed colonic adenomas from a familial adenomatous polypo sis (FAP) patient into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice and subsequently examined them histologically and molecular biologically. Successful engraftment and metastasis was observed. The facts that hu man normal colonic epithelium and adenomatous polyps can take in SCID mice indicates the possibility that this human SCID mouse system will be useful for investigating the dynamics of human carcinogenesis in va rious tissues.