Preclinical large animal models for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

The use of large animal models for marrow and stem cell transplantation has become increasingly important. Large animal models have recently been used for studying the principles of hematopoiesis and illustrate the relative slow rate of stem cell turnover compared with mice. Furthermore, large animals are used to study the effectiveness of varying conditioning regimens, as well as the influence of growth factors and various immunosuppressive agents such as corticotropin-releasing factor and mycophenolate mofetil on graft-versus-host disease and graft rejection. Large animal models have become useful in studying the combination of hematopoietic stem cell and solid organ transplants for the establishment of long-term tolerance in major histocompatibility complex-mismatched settings.