E. Gallo-hendrikx et al., Evaluation of three lines of immunodeficient mice for the study of spontaneous metastatic tumors, APMIS, 107(2), 1999, pp. 245-256
Various immunodeficient animals have been used as transplantation recipient
s for studying the growth of human tumors. We have been assessing the value
of immunodeficiencies for the study of naturally arising tumors, using a m
odel system of transgenic mice that spontaneously develop cancer of the pan
creas as a result of elastase promoter-driven expression of the large tumor
antigen gene of simian virus 40. We previously reported the establishment
of transgenic mice that carried the SCID and/or beige mutations, eliminatin
g B- and T-cell function and reducing lytic NK cell activity, respectively.
In SCID beige animals, metastasis rates and target organs for metastases w
ere similar to those observed in humans with pancreatic cancer. We describe
here analysis of subsequent more highly inbred generations of these mice.
The data show that inbreeding has almost negated the value of these immunod
eficiencies for enhancing disease progression, and we observe high rates of
metastasis even in immunocompetent animals. The data suggest that SCID and
beige immunodeficiencies may not always have the same value for the modeli
ng of spontaneous tumors as they do for the study of xenografts.