Abstract 399: A special childhood T-ALL model of NOD/SCID mice can recapitulate the clinical patient disease

Abstract

Abstract Despite recent advances in the management of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the risk of relapse remains about 30 percent. Here we report an interesting childhood T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) patient case, engrafting into NOD/SCID mice successfully, recaptured the clinical course accurately including the rapid remission induction, minimal residual disease and relapsing. Immunophenotypes of primary, secondary and third xenografts indicated the cells expressing CD3/CD5/CD7/CD4, as well as the genetic lesions, were unaltered compared with the original patient sample. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) studies showed more than 90% infiltration of leukemic cells in spleen, liver, lung and variable level in other organs include brain within 4 weeks in primary xenografts and 2 weeks in secondary xenografts. The response to Vinscristine and Dexamesathone of primary engrafts was similar to what the original patient did in the clinic. A minimal residual disease phase and relapsing model had also been established in this model after complete remission induced by Vincristine plus Dexamesathone. In addition, Dexamesathone treatment alone was able to prolong the survival of the T-ALL hosts for more than two weeks in the presence of over 90% cancer cell infiltration in the peripheral blood. This study supports previous finding that the NOD/SCID model of childhood T-ALL is an accurate representation of the patient disease and can be used in the screening of anticancer drugs for childhood ALL. This model also warrants further investigation in T-ALL at relapse and potentially in the study of minimal residual disease for chemotherapy-resistant T-ALL subgroups. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 399.