GROWTH OF HUMAN T-CELL LINEAGE ACUTE-LEUKEMIA IN SEVERE COMBINED IMMUNODEFICIENCY (SCID) MICE AND NONOBESE DIABETIC SCID MICE

Primary leukemic cells from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can be injected intravenously into mice with severe combined im munodeficiency (SCID) to create a model of human leukemia. Leukemic ce lls disseminate to murine tissues in a clinicopathologic pattern simil ar to that seen in humans. Thus far, reports of engraftment of lymphoi d leukemia in SCID mice have mainly been from patients with B-cell lin eage ALL, for which engraftment occurs more frequently with cells from high-risk patients. There are few data on the engraftment of T-cell l ineage ALL in SCID mice. Leukemic cells from 19 patients (16 adult and three pediatric) with T-cell lineage ALL were injected into SCID mice , with overt engraftment of 12 cases (63%). Engraftment of leukemia in SCID mice was associated with earlier death due to leukemia of the pa tient donors (P <.01, log-rank test). The recently developed non-obese diabetic (NOD)/SCID mouse may expand the uses of the SCID model. Cell s rom the seven patients with T-cell lineage ALL that failed to cause leukemia in SCID mice were injected into NOD/SCID mice, Overt leukemia engraftment was observed in all seven cases. Thus, growth of human T- cell lineage ALL cells in SCID mice was associated with a high-risk pa tient group. However, this association was not observed when NODI SCID mice were used, suggesting that this model would no longer predict pa tients likely to die early of leukemia, but may provide a more realist ic system for studying the biology and treatment of the disease, (C) 1 997 by The American Society of Hematology.