Humanized mouse models to study the human haematopoietic stem cell compartment

Dominique Bonnet1

  • 1Haematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratory, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, London, UK.

The ideal way to assess hematopoietic stem cells is to observe their growth in the endogenous microenvironment where they would receive the appropriate signals. With colonies of inbred mice, it is possible to myeloablate recipients and transplant hematopoietic cells from genetically similar mice and observe the growth of primitive hematopoietic cells in their endogenous environment for a significant proportion (10 months) of an organisms lifespan (29 months average). It is not possible to perform these experiments in humans, but xenotransplantation mouse models provide the closest paradigm for the human hematopoietic environment at the present time.