Co-transplantation of human fetal thymus, bone and CD34+ cells into young adult immunodeficient NOD/SCID IL2Rγnull mice optimizes humanized mice that mount adaptive antibody responses

•Thymus, bone and CD34+ cells into young adult immunodeficient mice generate TB34N.•The TB34N mice exhibited an enhanced repopulation of HIS components.•Functional follicular lymphoid structures were observed in the spleen of TB34N.•Ag-specific hIgM and hIgG Ab were secreted at comparable levels to those of humans.•Human IgG mAb-secreting cell lines were generated from immunized TB34N spleen.

Both the thymus (T) and bone (B) are necessary hematopoietic niches in adult humans. We previously showed that co-transplantation of human fetal T and B tissues into neonatal immunodeficient NOD/SCID IL2Rγnull (NSG, N) mice facilitated hematopoiesis. However, transplantation into neonatal mice resulted in high frequency of early death, making it unrealistic for repetitive experiments. In this study, young adult N mice were pre-engrafted with T and B, T alone, B alone or no tissues. The animals were irradiated and injected with autologous fetal liver (FL)-derived CD34+ cells (34). The resultant mice were TB34N, T34N, B34N and 34N, respectively, and challenged with T cell dependent antigens (Ags). The humanized TB34N mice showed best performance of these mouse models in many aspects resembling the adult human Ag-experienced spleen. The TB34N mice exhibited better hematopoietic reconstitution; balanced development of T- and B-cell, and common progenitor cells; follicular lymphoid structures with a functional germinal center (GC) enriched with follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) and plasma cells (PCs); secretion of hIgG in the sera in response to Ags at comparable levels to those of human; derivations of hIgG mAb-secreting hybridoma clones. Collectively, the humanized TB34N mice could develop an adaptive immunity that was capable of producing Ag-specific hIgG at a significant level via class switching. This unprecedented TB34N platform in humanized mice would be useful in dissecting human immunity, for generating human Abs and clinical applications.