Non-invasive bioluminescence imaging to monitor the immunological control of a plasmablastic lymphoma-like B cell neoplasia after hematopoietic cell transplantation

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 12;8(12):e81320. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081320. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

To promote cancer research and to develop innovative therapies, refined pre-clinical mouse tumor models that mimic the actual disease in humans are of dire need. A number of neoplasms along the B cell lineage are commonly initiated by a translocation recombining c-myc with the immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene locus. The translocation is modeled in the C.129S1-Igha(tm1(Myc)Janz)/J mouse which has been previously engineered to express c-myc under the control of the endogenous IgH promoter. This transgenic mouse exhibits B cell hyperplasia and develops diverse B cell tumors. We have isolated tumor cells from the spleen of a C.129S1-Igha(tm1(Myc)Janz)/J mouse that spontaneously developed a plasmablastic lymphoma-like disease. These cells were cultured, transduced to express eGFP and firefly luciferase, and gave rise to a highly aggressive, transplantable B cell lymphoma cell line, termed IM380. This model bears several advantages over other models as it is genetically induced and mimics the translocation that is detectable in a number of human B cell lymphomas. The growth of the tumor cells, their dissemination, and response to treatment within immunocompetent hosts can be imaged non-invasively in vivo due to their expression of firefly luciferase. IM380 cells are radioresistant in vivo and mice with established tumors can be allogeneically transplanted to analyze graft-versus-tumor effects of transplanted T cells. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of tumor-bearing mice results in prolonged survival. These traits make the IM380 model very valuable for the study of B cell lymphoma pathophysiology and for the development of innovative cancer therapies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • B-Lymphocytes
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Diagnostic Imaging / methods*
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Luminescent Measurements / methods*
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell / pathology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Transplantation, Homologous

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grants SFB TR 52 Z2, KFO 216 Z1), the Else-Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (2010_Kolleg.52), and the Interdisziplinäre Zentrum für Klinische Forschung der Universität Würzburg (grant B-233). This publication was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the University of Wuerzburg in the funding programme Open Access Publishing. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.