Name: testing cancer immunotherapeutics in a humanized mouse model bearing human tumors
Uploaded: 2022-12-16T13:50:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Testing Cancer Immunotherapeutics in a Humanized Mouse Model Bearing Human Tumors at JoVE.com

We would like to thank both the Animal Research Facility (OLAR) for their care of our mice, and the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource supported by the Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA046934) at our institute for their immense help in all our work. We also acknowledge both Gail Eckhardt and Anna Capasso for our inaugural collaborations studying immunotherapies to human PDXs in our HIS-BRGS model.&#160;This study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health P30CA06934 Cancer Center Support Grant with use of the PHISM (Pre-clinical Human Immune System Mouse Models) Shared Resource, RRID: SCR_021990 and Flow Cytometry Shared Resource, RRID: SCR_022035.&#160;This research was supported in part by the NIAID of the National Institutes of Health under Contract Number 75N93020C00058.

All animal work was performed under animal protocols approved by the University of Colorado Denver Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC Protocols #00593 and #00021). All animal work was performed in accordance with the Office of Laboratory Animal Resources (OLAR), an accredited facility by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Care, at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus. All human cord blood samples were obtained as donations from de-identified donors and are thus not subject...

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Over the past 6 years, using our expertise in both immunology and humanized mice, our research team has developed a much needed preclinical model to test immunotherapies on a variety of human tumors3,7,30,31. This protocol emphasizes the consideration of the variability of the model, with special attention to the immunotherapy-centric human T cell populations. In this protocol, the generation o...

An erratum was issued for:&#160;<a href="https://www.jove.com/t/64606">Testing Cancer Immunotherapeutics in a Humanized Mouse Model Bearing Human Tumors</a>. The Authors section was updated from:
Jordi M. Lanis1 
Matthew S. Lewis1 
Hannah Strassburger1 
Stacey M. Bagby2 
Adrian T. A. Dominguez2 
Juan A. Mar&#237;n-Jim&#233;nez3 
Roberta Pelanda1 
Todd M. Pitts2 
Julie Lang1 
1Department of Immunology and Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus 
2Division of Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus 
3Department of Medical Oncology, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO-L&#8217;Hospitalet)
to:
Jordi M. Lanis1 
Matthew S. Lewis1 
Hannah Strassburger1 
Kristina Larsen1 
Stacey M. Bagby2 
Adrian T. A. Dominguez2 
Juan A. Mar&#237;n-Jim&#233;nez3 
Roberta Pelanda1 
Todd M. Pitts2 
Julie Lang1 
1Department of Immunology and Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus 
2Division of Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus 
3Department of Medical Oncology, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO-L&#8217;Hospitalet)

An erratum was issued for:&#160;<a href="https://www.jove.com/t/64606">Testing Cancer Immunotherapeutics in a Humanized Mouse Model Bearing Human Tumors</a>. The Authors section was updated.

Erratum: Testing Cancer Immunotherapeutics in a Humanized Mouse Model Bearing Human Tumors

Mouse cancer models are important for establishing basic mechanisms of tumor growth and immune escape. However, cancer treatment studies in mouse models have yielded finite translation to the clinic due to limited syngeneic models and species-specific differences1,2. The emergence of immune therapies as a dominant approach to control tumors has reiterated the need for an in vivo model with a functional human immune system. Advancements in human immune system mice (HIS mice) over the past decade have made it possible to study immuno-oncology in vivo in a wide variety of cancer types and immunotherapeutic agents3,4,5,6. Human tumor models, including cell-line derived and patient-derived xenografts (CDX and PDX, respectively), grow well in HIS mice and in most cases are nearly identical to their growth in the immunodeficient host lacking human hematopoietic engraftment7,8. Based on this key finding, researchers have been using the HIS mouse model to study human immunotherapies, including combination therapies designed to alter the tumor microenvironment (TME) to decrease immunosuppression and thus enhance immune-directed tumor killing. These preclinical models help address the issues of heterogeneity of human cancers, and can also predict treatment success as well as monitor immune related drug toxicities9,10.
The production of a mouse model with a human immune system through the introduction of human hematopoietic stem cells requires a recipient immunodeficient mouse that will not reject the xenograft. Current HIS mouse models are derived from immunodeficient mouse strains that were reported over 30 years ago. The first immunodeficient mouse strain described was SCID mice that lacked T and B cells11, followed by a hybrid NOD-SCID with an SIRP&#945;&#160;polymorphism responsible for mouse macrophage tolerance to human cells, due to increased binding for the NOD SIRP&#945; allele to the human CD47 molecule12,13. In the early 2000s, the deletion of the common gamma chain of the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R&#947;c) on both BALB/c and NOD immunodeficient strains was a game changer for enhanced human engraftment, due to genetic deletions forbidding host NK cell development14,15,16,17. Alternative models, such as BRG and NRG mice, achieve T and B cell deficiency through deletion of the Rag1 or Rag2 gene, required for T and B cell receptor gene rearrangements and thus the maturation and survival of lymphocytes18,19. The BRGS (BALB/c -Rag2nullIl2R&#947;CnullSirp&#945;NOD) mouse used herein combines the IL-2R&#947; chain deficiency and the NOD SIRP&#945; allele on the Rag2-/- background, resulting in a highly immunodeficient mouse without T, B, or NK cells, yet with sufficient vigor and health to allow for long term engraftment of more than 30 weeks13.
HIS mice can be generated in multiple ways, with human PBMC injection being the most direct method15,18,20. However, these mice have a pronounced expansion of activated human T cells that results in graft versus host disease (GVHD) by 12 weeks of age, preventing long-term studies. Alternatively, human hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood (CB), bone marrow, and fetal liver can also be used for engraftment and production of the human immune system de novo. In this system, the hematopoietic stem cells produce a multi-lineage human immune system with the generation of T, B, and innate immune cells that are importantly tolerant of the mouse host, compared to the PBMC mice that develop mostly T cells. Therefore, GVHD is absent or greatly delayed, and studies can be extended to mice up to 10 months of age. CB provides an easy, accessible, and noninvasive source of CD34+ human hematopoietic stem cells that facilitates the engraftment of multiple HIS mice with genetically identical immune systems17,18,20,21. Over the past few years, HIS mouse models have been used extensively to study immunotherapy and the TME3,4,5,6. Despite the development of human derived immune systems in these mice, human xenograft tumors grow at similar rates compared to the control immunodeficient mice and allow for the complex interplay between the cancer cells and immune cells, which is important for maintaining the microenvironment of the engrafted PDX3,7,8. This protocol has been used to perform over 50 studies testing treatments in HIS-BRGS mice with PDXs and CDXs. An important conclusion is that human tumors in the HIS mice maintain their unique TME as defined by molecular evaluation of the tumor relative to the initial patient sample and immune infiltrate characteristics3,22,23. Our group focuses on in-depth evaluation of the HIS in both immune organs and the tumor using multi-parameter flow cytometry. Herein, we describe a protocol for the humanization of BRGS mice, evaluation of chimerism, implantation of human tumors, tumor growth measurements, cancer treatment administration, and analysis of the HIS cells by flow cytometry.

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		<tr>
			<td>1 mL syringe w/needles</td>
			<td>McKesson</td>
			<td>1031815</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>15 mL tubes</td>
			<td>Grenier Bio-One</td>
			<td>188271</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2-mercaptoethanol</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>M6250</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>50 mL tubes</td>
			<td>Grenier Bio-One</td>
			<td>227261</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>AutoMACS Pro Separator</td>
			<td>Miltenyi</td>
			<td>130-092-545</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BD Golgi Stop Protein Transport Inhibitor with monensin</td>
			<td>BD Bioscience</td>
			<td>BDB563792</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BSA</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>BP1600100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cell Stim Cocktail</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>509305</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Chill 15 Rack</td>
			<td>Miltenyi</td>
			<td>130-092-952</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cotton-plugged glass pipettes</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>13-678-8B</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cultrex Basement membrane extract</td>
			<td>R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td>363200502</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cytek Aurora</td>
			<td>Cytek</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DNase</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>9003-98-9</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>eBioscience FoxP3/Transcription Factor Staining Buffer Set</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>00-5523-00</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Embryonic Stemcell FCS</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>10439001</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Eppendorf Tubes; 1.5 mL volume</td>
			<td>Grenier Bio-One</td>
			<td>616201</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Excel</td>
			<td>Microsoft</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>FBS</td>
			<td>Benchmark</td>
			<td>100-106 500mL</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ficoll Hypaque</td>
			<td>GE Healthcare</td>
			<td>45001752</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>FlowJo Software</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Forceps - fine</td>
			<td>Roboz Surgical&#160;</td>
			<td>RS5045</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Forceps normal</td>
			<td>Dumont</td>
			<td>RS4919</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Formaldehyde</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>F75P1GAL</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Frosted Glass Slides</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>1255310</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Gentlemacs C-Tubes</td>
			<td>Miltenyi&#160;&#160;&#160;</td>
			<td>130-096-334</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GentleMACS Dissociator</td>
			<td>Miltenyi</td>
			<td>130-093-235</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>glass pipettes</td>
			<td>DWK Life Sciences</td>
			<td>63A53</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glutamax</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11140050</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HBSS w/ Ca &#38; Mg</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>55037C</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HEPES</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>MT25060CI</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IgG standard</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>I2511</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IgM standard</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>401108</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IMDM</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>12440053</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Liberase DL</td>
			<td>Roche</td>
			<td>5466202001</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>LIVE/DEAD Fixable Blue</td>
			<td>Thermo</td>
			<td>L23105</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MDA-MB-231</td>
			<td>ATCC</td>
			<td>HTB-26</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MEM</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>1140050</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mouse anti-human IgG-AP</td>
			<td>Southern Biotech</td>
			<td>JDC-10</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mouse anti-human IgG-unabeled</td>
			<td>Southern Biotech</td>
			<td>H2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mouse anti-human IgM-AP</td>
			<td>Southern Biotech</td>
			<td>UHB</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mouse anti-human IgM-unlabeled</td>
			<td>Southern Biotech</td>
			<td>SA-DA4</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MultiRad 350</td>
			<td>Precision X-Ray</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PBS</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>45000-446</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pen Strep</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>15140122</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Petri Dishes</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>FB0875713A</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>p-nitrophenyl substrate</td>
			<td>Thermo</td>
			<td>34045</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PRISM</td>
			<td>Graphpad</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rec Hu FLT3L</td>
			<td>R&#38;D systems</td>
			<td>308-FK-005/CF</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rec Hu IL6</td>
			<td>R&#38;D systems</td>
			<td>206-IL-010/CF</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rec Hu SCF</td>
			<td>R&#38;D systems</td>
			<td>255SC010</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RPMI 1640</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>45000-39</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Saponin</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>8047-15-2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Scissors</td>
			<td>McKesson</td>
			<td>862945</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Serological pipettes 25 mL</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>1367811</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sterile filter</td>
			<td>Nalgene</td>
			<td>567-0020</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sterile molecular water</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>7732-18-5</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Yeti Cell Analyzer</td>
			<td>Bio-Rad</td>
			<td>12004279</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Zombie Green</td>
			<td>biolegend</td>
			<td>423112</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

testing cancer immunotherapeutics in a humanized mouse model bearing human tumors

Reversing the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment is critical for the successful treatment of cancers with immunotherapy drugs. Murine cancer models are extremely limited in their diversity and suffer from poor translation to the clinic. To serve as a more physiological preclinical model for immunotherapy studies, this protocol has been developed to evaluate the treatment of human tumors in a mouse reconstituted with a human immune system. This unique protocol demonstrates the development of human immune system (HIS, &#34;humanized&#34;) mice, followed by implantation of a human tumor, either a cell-line derived xenograft (CDX) or a patient derived xenograft (PDX). HIS mice are generated by injecting CD34+ human hematopoietic stem cells isolated from umbilical cord blood into neonatal BRGS (BALB/c Rag2-/- IL2R&#947;C-/- NODSIRP&#945;) highly immunodeficient mice that are also capable of accepting a xenogeneic tumor. The importance of the kinetics and characteristics of the human immune system development and tumor implantation is emphasized. Finally, an in-depth evaluation of the tumor microenvironment using flow cytometry is described. In numerous studies using this protocol, it was found that the tumor microenvironment of individual tumors is recapitulated in HIS-PDX mice; &#34;hot&#34; tumors exhibit large immune infiltration while &#34;cold&#34; tumors do not. This model serves as a testing ground for combination immunotherapies for a wide range of human tumors and represents an important tool in the quest for personalized medicine.

Following the flank tumor protocol and experimental timeline (Figure 1), the tumor growth and immune response to a targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy and nivolumab combination treatment was studied in two distinct human colorectal cancer (CRC) PDXs. The TKI drugs have been studied in immunodeficient hosts to evaluate tumor growth only29. This model enabled the study of changes in the immune response of the TKI alone, and more importantly, in combination ...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Testing Cancer Immunotherapeutics in a Humanized Mouse Model Bearing Human Tumors at JoVE.com

Testing Cancer Immunotherapeutics in a Humanized Mouse Model Bearing Human Tumors

This protocol outlines the generation of human immune system (HIS) mice for immuno-oncology studies. Instructions and considerations in the use of this model for testing human immunotherapeutics on human tumors implanted in this model are presented with an emphasis on characterizing the response of the human immune system to the tumor.

Reversing the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment is critical for the successful treatment of cancers with immunotherapy drugs. Murine ...

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Cancer Research

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