Pulmonary and systemic toxicity of bleomycin on severe combined immune deficiency mice

Severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) mice were more sensitive to systemic delivery of bleomycin (BLM) than the wild-type strain, and died from esophagitis. Lung injury in the SCID mice by its intratracheal injection, however, was of comparable degree but with less lymphocyte infiltration than that in the wild-type mice. Macrophages and lymphocytes increased transiently in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of SCID mice, whereas their increase in wild-type was continuous. Unsustainable inflammation in the lung might reduce BLM-induced lung injury in BLM-sensitive SCID mice.