Animal models have been of limited value for studying survival and immune destruction of human blood cells because of xenoantibodies that mediate rapid elimination of the transfused cells. The NOD/SCID mouse is a genetic variant that lacks immunoglobulins, including xenoantibodies, and may therefore be useful for studying survival and immune destruction of human blood cells (

Newman, PJ et al.
J Thromb Haemost.
2007
;
5
Suppl 1:
305
–9
). Human platelets, infused into the retroorbital plexus of NOD/SCID mice survive about three days, nearly as long as mouse platelets themselves. Injection of IgG from a patient with quinine-induced immune thrombocytopenia (TP) and a newly developed quinine-dependent murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) were without effect on platelet survival. However, both antibodies caused rapid platelet clearance after IP injection of quinine. 500 μg, but not 50 μg, of IgG from serum containing an anti-HPA-1a (PlA1) antibody also caused rapid clearance of HPA-1a positive platelets. These findings indicate that the NOD/SCID mouse can be valuable for the study of immune clearance of human platelets and perhaps other unresolved problems in transfusion medicine. However, it is not known whether mice recognize cells opsonized with human IgG or mouse IgG equally well. To examine this, we compared the survival of human platelets sensitized with 1) mAb 7E3 (IgG1) specific for an epitope in the beta A domain of GPIIIa or 2) c7E3 (from Centocor Inc), which recognizes the same epitope but possesses a human IgG1 Fc. In titration studies, we found that about four times as much c7E3 as 7E3 is needed to produce equivalent clearance of human platelets, indicating that mouse IgG is a more efficient opsonin than human IgG. However, this difference should not limit use of the model for studies of antibody-mediated blood cell destruction, since mg quantities of IgG can easily be isolated from small amounts (0.1– 0.2 ml) of human serum.

Topics:
animal model, antibodies, antibodies, heterophile, blood platelets, epitopes, immunoglobulin g, immunoglobulins, integrin beta3, intraperitoneal injections, monoclonal antibodies

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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2008, The American Society of Hematology
2008
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