Growth and immunogenicity of human glioma in severe combined immunodeficiency-human mice.

The severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse was investigated as a model system to study the growth and immunogenicity of human gliomas. Human glioma cell lines U-251MG, KNS-42, SF-188, A-172, and T-98G were injected subcutaneously into SCID mice. The cell lines U-251MG and KNS-42 grew as large, subcutaneous masses; SF-188, A-172, and T-98G did not grow. Glioma-immune system interactions were studied by the transplantation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes into tumor-bearing SCID mice. In the resultant SCID-human (SCID-hu) mice, transplanted lymphocytes infiltrated into the subcutaneously growing tumors and expressed the surface markers of human B, T, and natural killer cells. The SCID-hu mouse is a potentially powerful model to study the basic tumor biology of some human gliomas and also represents a useful screening system to evaluate experimental immunotherapies for brain tumors.