title: beta2 microglobulin-deficient (B2m(null)) NOD/SCID mice are excellent recipients for studying human stem cell function.
abstract: Human SCID repopulating cells (SRC) are defined based on their functional ability to repopulate the bone marrow of NOD/SCID mice with both myeloid and lymphoid cell populations. The frequency of SRC in umbilical cord blood cells is 1 in 9.3 x 10(5) mononuclear cells. We report that as few as 8 x 10(4) human cord blood mononuclear cells transplanted into NOD/SCID/B2m(null )mice resulted in multilineage differentiation in the murine bone marrow, revealing a more than 11-fold higher SRC frequency than in NOD/SCID mice. Moreover, as few as 2 to 5 x 10(3) CD34(+) cells recovered from the bone marrow of primary transplanted NOD/SCID mice were sufficient for engrafting secondary NOD/SCID/B2m(null )mice with SRC, suggesting SRC self-renewal. Thus, by using NOD/SCID/B2m(null )mice as recipients, we established a functional assay for human stem cells capable of engrafting the bone marrow of primary and secondary transplanted immune-deficient mice with SRC, providing a model that better resembles autologous stem cell transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaplan Hospital, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kollet
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peled
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Byk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben-Hur
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Greiner
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shultz
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lapidot
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016513:Mice, SCID; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin