1. BLT-humanized C57BL/6 Rag2-/-γc-/-CD47-/- mice are resistant to GVHD and develop B- and T-cell immunity to HIV infection.
- Author
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Lavender KJ, Pang WW, Messer RJ, Duley AK, Race B, Phillips K, Scott D, Peterson KE, Chan CK, Dittmer U, Dudek T, Allen TM, Weissman IL, and Hasenkrug KJ
- Subjects
- Animals, B-Lymphocytes pathology, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes pathology, Disease Models, Animal, HIV Infections genetics, HIV Infections pathology, Heterografts, Humans, Lymphoid Tissue pathology, Lymphoid Tissue virology, Mice, Mice, Knockout, B-Lymphocytes immunology, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes immunology, Graft vs Host Disease, HIV Infections immunology, HIV-1 immunology, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Immunity, Cellular, Lymphoid Tissue immunology
- Abstract
The use of C57BL/6 Rag2(-/-)γc(-/-) mice as recipients for xenotransplantation with human immune systems (humanization) has been problematic because C57BL/6 SIRPα does not recognize human CD47, and such recognition is required to suppress macrophage-mediated phagocytosis of transplanted human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We show that genetic inactivation of CD47 on the C57BL/6 Rag2(-/-)γc(-/-) background negates the requirement for CD47-signal recognition protein α (SIRPα) signaling and induces tolerance to transplanted human HSCs. These triple-knockout, bone marrow, liver, thymus (TKO-BLT) humanized mice develop organized lymphoid tissues including mesenteric lymph nodes, splenic follicles and gut-associated lymphoid tissue that demonstrate high levels of multilineage hematopoiesis. Importantly, these mice have an intact complement system and showed no signs of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) out to 29 weeks after transplantation. Sustained, high-level HIV-1 infection was observed via either intrarectal or intraperitoneal inoculation. TKO-BLT mice exhibited hallmarks of human HIV infection including CD4(+) T-cell depletion, immune activation, and development of HIV-specific B- and T-cell responses. The lack of GVHD makes the TKO-BLT mouse a significantly improved model for long-term studies of pathogenesis, immune responses, therapeutics, and vaccines to human pathogens.
- Published
- 2013
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