Assessment of engraftment and function of human tonsillar and blood mononuclear cells in immunodeficient mice.

In 1988, two groups of investigators reported the successful adoptive transfer of nonneoplastic human cells into mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).1–3 These mice originated from the CB-17 lcr strain by a spontaneous autosomal recessive mutation4 affecting the VDJ recombinase system.5 SCID mice lack functional B and T cells, but have a normal arsenal of macrophages and NK cells. The survival of human immunoreactive cells in SCID mice allows for the study of the human immune system in an animal model. Thus the human immune system is available for experimental protocols feasible up to now only for the study of animal immune systems. SCID mice engrafted with human immunologically reactive cells were called “human-mouse chimeras,” “SCID-hu mice” and, hu-SCID mice. These mice are of interest for the study of maturation and differentiation of human hematopoietic cells,6 tumor immunology,7,8 human immune responses to infectious agents, neoplasms and autoantigens,9,10 and drug effects on the human immune system. The hu-SCID mouse also seems an exciting model for the direct study of components of human mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), their interactions, functions, and traffic in vivo.11,12