A model for human B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia in human/mouse radiation chimera: evidence for tumor-mediated suppression of antibody production in low-stage disease.

B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (BCLL) is a lymphoproliferative disease that is characterized by clonal expansion of CD5+ B cells. BCLL is associated with secondary immunodeficiency and hypogammaglobulinemia. It has been suggested that T-cell dysregulation may play a role in the hypogammaglobulinemia and in the increased incidence of autoimmunity in BCLL patients. We attempted to transfer human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from BCLL patients in different stages of the disease into immunodeficient mice. PBMC from BCLL patients in stage 0, stages I to II, and stages III to IV were transplanted into the peritoneal cavity of lethally irradiated Balb/c or beige/nude/Xid (BNX) mice radioprotected with bone marrow (BM) from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. Different engraftment profiles were found in the chimeric mice 2 weeks after transplantation of PBMC according to the disease stage of the BCLL donors. Infusion of PBMC from donors in stage 0 led to marked engraftment of human T cells, whereas the human tumor cells could hardly be detected. In contrast, chimeric mice receiving PBMC from patients in stage III to IV disease exhibited engraftment with a dominance of tumor cells, compared with a miniscule level of T cells. The ability of the engrafted cells to produce human Ig was also found to be correlated with the disease stage of the donor, although all donors had the same magnitude of hypogammaglobulinemia. Total human Ig production in the chimeric mice was normal in mice receiving PBMC from donors in stage 0, whereas in chimeric mice engrafted with PBMC from donors in stages III to IV almost no human Igs could be detected. This differential reconstitution of antibody production in the mouse model according to the stage of the patient's disease will allow further studies on possible cellular interactions between malignant and immune cells in BCLL.