Establishment of a transplantable human myeloid BALB/c nude mouse model

To establish a mouse model bearing transplantable human chronic myeloid leukemia for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to treat leukemia, 4 - 5-week-old female BALB/c nude mice were given cyclophosphamide 2 mg/mouse at day -2, -1, and then the human chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells were engrafted into the mice at day 0 by injection via tail vein or peritoneal cavity. PB and BM cells were collected, the CD45, CD13, and CD33 antigens were delected by using FCM, the bcr/abl fusion gene mRNA was examined by RT-PCR. The results showed that transplantable leukemic mice could be yielded from 4 - 5-week-old nude mice either by injection through tail vein or peritoneal cavity when the total number of inoculated tumor cells was more than 2 x 10(5) per mouse, whether being pretreated with 2 mg CTX/mouse or not. The transplanted mice could survive 30 - 60 day with leukemia. In conclusion, the mouse model bearing leukemia can be established by inoculation 2 x 10(5) K562 cells into immunodeficient BALB/c nude mice.