Allogeneic Bone Marrow Chimerism in Germfree Mice III. Therapy of Leukemic AKR Mice 1

Abstract

Summary

Conventional AKR mice were decontaminated of bacteria and fungi by means of an antibiotic regimen. When GF and decontaminated mice developed clinical symptoms of leukemia, they were administered 1000 R x-rays (whole-body). Twenty-four hours after irradiation, the mice were injected IV with 10⁷ bone marrow cells from GF DBA/2 mice. Eleven of 12 leukemic GF AKR mice treated in this manner survived the 60-day observation period; as did 14 of 17 treated decontaminated leukemic AKR mice. In contrast, of 11 conventional, leukemic AKR mice, which were irradiated and reconstituted with bone marrow cells from nonleukemic AKR mice, 9 died of typical lymphatic leukemia at average 43 days after transplantation. Untreated, leukemic AKR mice died within 10 days after the appearance of leukemic symptoms. Thus, transplanted allogeneic bone marrow cells appear to have therapeutic value for the treatment of spontaneous leukemia in AKR mice.