Primary central nervous system lymphoma following transfer of human peripheral blood lymphocytes into SCID mice

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice are genetically deficient in both B and T cells. To study immune-mediated phenomena in the CNS, myelin basic protein-reactive T cell clones, admixed with peripheral blood lymphocytes as a source of antigen-presenting cells, derived from a healthy human donor, were injected intracerebrally (IC) into 10 SCID mice. One mouse developed quadriplegia 2 months after the last injection. Autopsy revealed marked meningeal and parenchymal infiltration by large cell lymphoma. There was no evidence of lymphoma outside of the CNS. The majority of the tumor cells were positive for L26 (a human pan B cell marker), with some cells positive for UCHL-1 (a human pan T cell marker). The majority of the tumor cells were also positive for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome by in situ hybridization. Thus, primary CNS, EBV-positive B cell lymphoma can be produced in SCID mice by IC injection of nontransformed human peripheral blood lymphocytes. This phenomenon can be used as a model system for the study of primary CNS lymphomas under immunodeficiency conditions.