Phenotypic and functional studies of human peripheral blood lymphocytes engrafted in scid mice

CB.17 mice homozygous for the scid defect have been used as recipients of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from normal humans and from patients suffering from common variable immunodeficiency (CVI) types A and B. Following intra-peritoneal injection of PBL, such mice become chimeric with human cells, as evidenced by the presence in their serum of human immunoglobulins, which persist for a number of months. Under these conditions, B cells from CVI patients are also triggered to produce immunoglobulin. In contrast, T cells in the inocula, although they persist for 1 or 2 months in the peritoneal cavity, do not appear to function normally in antigen-specific responses and they do not recirculate in the recipient mice.