Wege Anja K, Schmidt Marcus, Ueberham Elke, Ponnath Marvin, Ortmann Olaf, Brockhoff Gero, Lehmann Jörg
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics; University Medical Center Regensburg; Regensburg, Germany.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; University Hospital; Mainz, Germany.
MAbs. 2014 Jul-Aug;6(4):968-77. doi: 10.4161/mabs.29111. Epub 2014 May 8.
Humanized tumor mice (HTM) were generated by the co-transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells and human breast cancer cells overexpressing HER2 into neonatal NOD-scid IL2Rγ(null) (NSG) mice. These mice are characterized by the development of a human immune system in combination with human breast cancer growth. Due to concurrent transplantation into newborn mice, transfer of MHC-mismatched tumor cells resulted in solid coexistence and immune cell activation (CD4(+) T cells, natural killer cells, and myeloid cells), but without evidence for rejection. Histological staining of the spleen of HTM revealed co-localization of human antigen-presenting cells together with human T and B cells allowing MHC-dependent interaction, and thereby the generation of T cell-dependent antibody production. Here, we investigated the capability of these mice to generate human tumor-specific antibodies and correlated immunoglobulin titers with tumor outgrowth. We found detectable IgM and also IgG amounts in the serum of HTM, which apparently controlled tumor development when IgG serum concentrations were above 10 µg/ml. Western blot analyses revealed that the tumor-specific antibodies generated in HTM did not recognize HER2/neu antigens, but different, possibly relevant antigens for breast cancer therapy. In conclusion, HTM offer a novel approach to generate complete human monoclonal antibodies that do not require further genetic manipulation (e. g., humanization) for a potential application in humans. In addition, efficacy and safety of the generated antibodies can be tested in the same mouse model under human-like conditions. This might be of particular interest for cancer subtypes with no currently available antibody therapy.
通过将人造血干细胞和过表达HER2的人乳腺癌细胞共同移植到新生的NOD-scid IL2Rγ(null)(NSG)小鼠中,构建了人源化肿瘤小鼠(HTM)。这些小鼠的特征是在人乳腺癌生长的同时发育出人类免疫系统。由于同时移植到新生小鼠中,MHC不匹配的肿瘤细胞转移导致了实体共存和免疫细胞激活(CD4(+) T细胞、自然杀伤细胞和髓样细胞),但没有排斥反应的证据。HTM脾脏的组织学染色显示,人抗原呈递细胞与人T细胞和B细胞共定位,允许MHC依赖性相互作用,从而产生T细胞依赖性抗体产生。在此,我们研究了这些小鼠产生人肿瘤特异性抗体的能力,并将免疫球蛋白滴度与肿瘤生长相关联。我们在HTM血清中发现了可检测到的IgM和IgG量,当IgG血清浓度高于10 µg/ml时,它们显然控制了肿瘤的发展。蛋白质印迹分析显示,HTM中产生的肿瘤特异性抗体不识别HER2/neu抗原,而是识别不同的、可能与乳腺癌治疗相关的抗原。总之,HTM提供了一种新的方法来产生完整的人单克隆抗体,这些抗体在潜在应用于人类时不需要进一步的基因操作(例如人源化)。此外,所产生抗体的疗效和安全性可以在相同的小鼠模型中在类似人类的条件下进行测试。这对于目前没有可用抗体治疗的癌症亚型可能特别有意义。