Transplantation of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells in immunodeficient mice reveals altered cell surface phenotypes and expression of human endothelial markers

To better characterize acute myeloid leukemia (AML) development in non-obese diabetic (NOD)/severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice, we transplanted samples from patients with AML or KG-1 and EOL-1 cell lines. We found 9/12 primary AML samples and both cell lines to engraft within 2-8 weeks, with 5-80% human cells in bone marrow. Compared with freshly isolated AML cells, percentages of human CD33+, CD38+, CD31+ CD13+ or CD15+ subpopulations increased after transplantation, whereas percentages of CD34+ cells decreased. Engrafted mice frequently showed expression of human endothelial cell markers. Thus, transplantation of human AML into NOD/SCID mice reveals expression of hematopoietic and endothelial differentiation markers.