A novel mouse model of adult T‐cell leukemia cell invasion into the spinal cord

• Published in: Animal models and experimental medicine Vol. 2; no. 1; pp. 64 - 67
• Main Authors: Ohsugi, Takeo, Tanaka, Shuhei, Iwasaki, Keigo, Nagano, Yusuke, Kozako, Tomohiro, Matsuda, Kazuya, Hirose, Takuya, Takehana, Kazushige
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-03-2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL); Animal models; Bone marrow; Bone mass; Central nervous system; central nervous system (CNS); Compression; human T‐cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV‐1); Laboratory animals; Leukemia; Malignancy; Metastases; mice; NOD.Cg‐PrkdcscidIl2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ mice; Spinal cord; Technical Note; Technical Notes; Thorax; Tumors; Vertebrae; South America; Japan; human T‐cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV‐1); adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL); NOD.Cg‐PrkdcscidIl2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ mice; central nervous system (CNS); mice
• ISSN: 2576-2095; 2096-5451; 2576-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/ame2.12053

Adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL) is a mature T‐cell malignancy caused by human T‐cell leukemia virus type I infection, and 10%‐25% of patients show central nervous system (CNS) involvement. CNS involvement significantly reduces survival and there are no effective treatments for CNS involvement. Therefore, an appropriate animal model is required to evaluate the inhibitory effects of novel drugs on the progression of ATL with CNS involvement. Here, we established a mouse model of ATL with CNS involvement using NOD.Cg‐PrkdcscidIl2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ mice inoculated with ATL cells intramuscularly in the postauricular region, and these mice showed paraparesis. Of the 10 mice inoculated with ATL cells intramuscularly (I.M.) at 5 weeks of age, 8 (80%) showed paraparesis, whereas none of the 10 mice inoculated with ATL cells subcutaneously (S.C.) showed paraparesis. In the I.M. group, PCR detected HTLV‐1‐specific genes in the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae; however, in the S.C. group, the vertebrae were negative for HTLV‐1 genes. Histological analysis revealed a particularly high incidence of tumors, characterized by accumulation of the injected cells, in the thoracic vertebrae of mice in the I.M. group. Tumor cell infiltration was relatively high in the bone marrow. Spinal cord compression caused by invasion of the tumor mass outside the pia mater was observed in the thoracic vertebrae of the spinal cord. In conclusion, we have reported a mouse model of tumor growth with paraparesis that may be used to assess novel therapeutic agents for ATL with CNS involvement.