Mouse-Human Chimera Expresses Human Immune Responses

The resulting chimeras, known as BLT (bone marrow liver thymic) mice, developed aspects of the human immune system and displayed high human T cell and other cell counts in virtually all of their tissues.

The BLT mice were challenged with either Epstein-Barr virus or toxic shock super antigen. Results of the study published in the October 22, 2006, online edition of Nature Medicine revealed that T cells in these mice generated human major histocompatibility complex class I– and class II–restricted adaptive immune responses to Epstein-Barr virus infection. Administration of the super antigen toxic-shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) resulted in the specific systemic expansion of human V-beta 2+ T cells, release of human pro-inflammatory cytokines, and localized, specific activation and maturation of human CD11c+ dendritic cells.

"The fact that virtually all human immune cells are adequately distributed in all the different mouse tissues has resulted in what is probably the most human-like immune system ever developed in mice,” said senior author Dr. J. Victor Garcia, professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "These human-mice chimeras are susceptible to a variety of human-specific viruses that could not be easily studied in the past, giving scientists a new way to study, develop, and implement novel vaccines and therapeutics to fight human diseases like cancer and AIDS.”



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University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center