RAUSCHER LEUKEMIA AS A MODEL FOR STUDIES OF MARROW TRANSPLANTATION THERAPY - RESULTS USING SYNGENEIC, ALLOGENEIC AND HYBRID DONORS

SJL/J mice with leukemia induced in their own cells by Rauscher leukemia virus were treated by marrow transplantation therapy. The results obtained using syngeneic, hybrid and two different allogeneic donors were compared. All types of donor tissue produced some degree of protection; the lowest was yielded by SJL/J cells and the highest by C57BL/10J. The incidence of leukemia recurrence after therapy varied with the donor strain used. The highest and earliest recurrence was seen with SJL/J donors. The use of leukemia‐resistant SJB10F1 hybrids resulted in protracted remissions followed by late relapse, which was possibly related to reemergence of host leukemogenic clones not previously eliminated by the pretransplant marrow ablation treatment. A distinctly different pattern of late deaths was seen with the use of allogeneic donors, suggesting a possible graft‐vs‐leukemia effect. Graft‐vs‐host (GvH) response was not evident following transplantation of either the hybrid or syngeneic marrow, as determined from studies using normal SJL/J mice as recipients. GvH disease was found using both types of allogeneic donors, C57BL/10J and 129/J. However, although both allogeneic donors were of the same histocompatibility type, H‐2b, they differed in the level of fatal GvH response induced when used as donors. This suggests the possibility of an influence of « minor » histocompatibility factors affecting GvH response incidence and animal survival. The similarities between the model and the results of treatment of human leukemia by marrow transplantation therapy are discussed, and the possible future use of the model to study means of achieving lower leukemia recurrence through better marrow ablation, and to study the question of whether there is a graft‐vs‐leukemia effect related to GvH response, is proposed. Copyright © 1979 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company