A large proportion of tumor cells can sustain the growth of murine lymphoid and myeloid malignancies. Cells from primary Eμ-myc pre-B/B lymphomas, Eμ-N-RAS thymic lymphomas, or PU.1–/– AML, all from mice on a C57BL/6 (Ly5.2+) background (>15 backcrosses), were transplanted into nonirradiated congenic C57BL/6 (Ly5.1+) recipient mice. To circumvent problems associated with injection of low cell numbers, we mixed the tumor cells with 106 congenic (C57BL/6-Ly5.1+) spleen cells as carriers. Shown are the fraction of recipients that developed tumors and the average time from transplantation to tumor development. No mice (0/24) injected with carrier spleen cells alone developed any tumor over a 100-day period. ND, not determined.
| Recipients that developed tumors (days to kill) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 105 cells | 103 cells | 102 cells | 10 cells | |
| Eμ-myc B lymphoma | ||||
| Case 1 | 3/3 (25) | 3/3 (25) | 3/3 (32) | 2/2 (35) |
| Case 2 | 3/3 (21) | 3/3 (23) | 3/3 (24) | 3/3 (24) |
| Case 3 Sca-1+ AA4.1hi | 3/3 (21) | 3/3 (21) | ND | 3/3 (17) |
| Sca-1+ AA4.1lo | 2/2 (17) | 2/2 (28) | 2/2 (28) | 2/2 (40) |
| Eμ-N-RAS T lymphoma | ||||
| Case 1 | 3/3 (28) | 3/3 (42) | 3/3 (28) | 3/3 (28) |
| PU.1-/- AML | ||||
| Case 1 | 1/1 (54) | 2/2 (168) | 1/2 (192) | 0/2 |
| Case 2 | 2/2 (84) | 2/2 (85) | 2/2 (224) | 1/2 (114) |
| Case 3 | 1/1 (85) | 2/2 (62) | 2/2 (69) | 2/2 (90) |
| Case 4 | 1/1 (30) | 1/1 (37) | 2/2 (79) | 2/2 (88) |