Establishment of an acute graft-versus-host disease animal model in EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma mice

Abstract

Objective To establish an acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) model in EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma mice, for providing experimental model to prevent aGVHD while maintaining graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect during allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (Allo-BMT). Methods Male BALB/c(H-2Kd)mice were used as donors and female C57BL/6(H-2Kb)mice were used as recipients.C57BL/6 hosts were given 9.5 Gy lethal total body irradiation at 4 hours prior to transplantation.Mice were randomly assigned into 3 groups and each group contained 17 recipients: The recipients in radiation group were injected with 0.2 mL RPMI 1640 as control.The recipients were injected with donor bone marrow cells (5×106/mouse) and splenocyte for aGVHD(5×106/mouse). The recipients in EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma aGVHD group were injected with donor bone marrow cells (5×106/mouse)and plus 500 EL4 cells(5×106/mouse) .General state, life span and histopathology of the recipient mice and detected chimera were observed. Results The results showed that the mean survival time in radiation group was (10.10±0.43) days, in aGVHD group was(28.12±5.01)days, in EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma aGVHD group was(31.05±5.48) days.The mean survival time in aGVHD group and EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma aGVHD group were significantly longer than that in radiation group(all P 0.05). Histopathological analysis in several target organs(skin, liver and small intestine) confirmed the presence of sever GVHD in aGVHD group and EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma aGVHD group.Pathological examination showed disorganization of normal tissues and leukemic cell infiltration in EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma aGVHD group. Conclusion The EL4 T-cell leukemia/lymphoma aGVHD mice model is reliable to the experimental research of aGVHD. Key words: Acute graft-versus-host disease; Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation; Mouse; Animal model