Intra-Peritoneal Transplantation for Generating Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Mice

Summary

Here, intra-peritoneal injection of leukemia cells is utilized to establish and propagate acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in mice. This new method is effective in the serial transplantation of AML cells and can serve as an alternative for those who may experience difficulties and inconsistencies with intravenous injection in mice.

Abstract

There is an unmet need for novel therapies to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the associated relapse that involves persistent leukemia stem cells (LSCs). An experimental AML rodent model to test therapies based on successfully transplanting these cells via retro-orbital injections in recipient mice is fraught with challenges. The aim of this study was to develop an easy, reliable, and consistent method to generate a robust murine model of AML using an intra-peritoneal route. In the present protocol, bone marrow cells were transduced with a retrovirus expressing human MLL-AF9 fusion oncoprotein. The efficiency of lineage negative (Lin^-) and Lin^-Sca-1⁺c-Kit⁺ (LSK) populations as donor LSCs in the development of primary AML was tested, and intra-peritoneal injection was adopted as a new method to generate AML. Comparison between intra-peritoneal and retro-orbital injections was done in serial transplantations to compare and contrast the two methods. Both Lin^- and LSK cells transduced with human MLL-AF9 virus engrafted well in the bone marrow and spleen of recipients, leading to a full-blown AML. The intra-peritoneal injection of donor cells established AML in recipients upon serial transplantation, and the infiltration of AML cells was detected in the blood, bone marrow, spleen, and liver of recipients by flow cytometry, qPCR, and histological analyses. Thus, intra-peritoneal injection is an efficient method of AML induction using serial transplantation of donor leukemic cells.

Introduction

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of hematologic malignancy of diverse etiology with poor prognosis¹. The generation of AML animal models lays the foundation for the understanding of its complex variations and pathobiology in an effort to discover novel therapies². Leukemogenesis in mice involves the transplantation of donor cells expressing fusion oncoproteins, including fusions involving the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene to potently induce AML, to mimic the disease in humans³. Various cellular origins of donor cells have been reported in the transplantation of MLL gene-associated AML

Protocol

All experiments were preapproved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the Pennsylvania State University.

1. Preparation of buffers and reagents

1. Prepare ampicillin supplemented (AP) LB agar plates (sterile 10 cm plates). To do this, dissolve 10 g of LB broth with agar in 400 mL of distilled water, stir, and bring the volume up to 500 mL. Sterilize the solution by autoclaving, then allow the solution to cool down, add 0.5 mL of ampicillin (stock: 150 mg/mL) into solution, and shake it to mix. Immediately add 18 mL of solution to a sterile 10 cm plate near an alcohol lamp, allow to solidify at room....

Results

Comparison of the transplantation efficiency of murine AML cells using r.o. and i.p. routes of transplantation
Previously, the establishment of 1˚ AML was reported in recipient mice retro-orbitally transplanted with MLL-AF9-transduced LSK cells, and the transplantability of 1˚ AML cells was demonstrated by serial transplantation³⁰. The present study is the first to evaluate the possibility of using bone marrow Lin^- cells to perform transplantation. The presence of a.......

Discussion

These above-described studies provide supportive evidence that the transplantation of Lin^- cells is comparable to LSK cells in the generation of 1˚ murine AML. In addition, the current data also shows that i.p. injection is an efficient and convenient method to establish murine AML compared to intravenous (or r.o.) injection.

In addition to LSK cells, other populations such as granulocyte-monocyte progenitor (GMP), common lymphoid progenitor (CLP), and common myeloid progenitor.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
a-Select competent cells	Bioline	BIO-85027
Ammonium chloride (NH4Cl)	Sigma Aldrich	Cat# A-9434
Ampicillin	Sigma Aldrich	Cat# A0797
Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA), Fraction V—Low-Endotoxin Grade	Gemini bio-products	Cat# 700-102P
Ciprofloxacin HCl	GoldBio.com	Cat# C-861-100
DMEM, high glucose, no glutamine	Gibco	Cat# 11960-044
Dulbecco’s Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS)	Corning	Cat# 21-031-CV
EDTA, Disodium Salt (EDTA-2Na), Dihydrate, Molecular Biology Grade	Calbiochem	Cat# 324503
Fetal Bovine Serum - Premium Select	Atlanta Biologicals	Cat# S11550
Holo-transferrin, bovine	Sigma Aldrich	Cat# T1283
Insulin solution human	Sigma	Cat# I-9278
Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium (IMDM)	Gibco	Cat# 12440-053
L-glutamine 200 mM (100×) solution	HyClone, Gelifesciences	Cat# SH30034.01
LB broth, Lennox	NEOGEN	Cat #: 7290A
LB Broth with agar (Miller)	Sigma Aldrich	Cat# L-3147
Mouse anti-mouse CD45.1 (FITC)	Miltenyi Biotec	Cat# 130-124-211
Mouse Interleukin-3 (IL-3)	Gemini bio-products	Cat# 300-324P
Mouse Interleukin-6 (IL-6)	Gemini bio-products	Cat# 300-327P
Mouse Stem Cell Factor (SCF)	Gemini bio-products	Cat# 300-348P
Penicillin-Streptomycin Solution, 100x	Corning	Cat# 30-002-CI
Phenix-Eco (pECO) cells	ATCC	CRL-3214
Potassium Bicarbonate (KHCO3), Granular	JT. Baker	Cat# 2940-01
Rat anti-mouse CD117 (c-kit) (APC)	BioLegend	Cat # 105812
Rat anti-mouse Ly-6A/E (Sca-1) (PE-Cy7)	BD Pharmingen	Cat# 558162
Recombinant Murine Flt3-Ligand	Pepro Tech, INC.	Cat# 250-31L
RetroNectin Recombinant Human Fibronectin Fragment	TaKaRa	Cat# T100A
TransIT-293 Reagent	MirusBio	Cat# MIR 2705
TRI Reagent	Sigma Aldrich	Cat# T9424
Trypan Blue Solution, 0.4%	Gibco	Cat # 15250061
Trypsin-EDTA (0.25%), phenol red	Gibco	Cat# 25200-056
β-Mercaptoethanol (BME)	Sigma Aldrich	Cat# M3148
Commercial Assays
EasySep Mouse Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Isolation Kit	StemCell technologies	Cat# 19856A
High-Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription Kit	Thermo Fisher	Cat# 4368813
PerfeCTa qPCR SuperMix	Quanta Bio	Cat# 95051-500
Plasmid Maxi Kit (25)	Qiagen	Cat#:12163
Animals
Ai14TdTomato mice	Jackson Laboratory	Strain # 007914
CD45.1 C57BL6/J mice	Jackson Laboratory	Strain # 002014
CD45.2 C57BL6/J mice	Jackson Laboratory	Strain # 000664
Instruments and Softwares
Adobe illustrator	Version 25.2.3
BD accuri C6 flow cytometer	BD Biosciences
FlowJo 10.8.0	BD
GeneSys software program	Version 1.5.7.0
GraphPad Prism version 6	GraphPad
Hemavet 950FS	Drew Scientific
7300 Real time PCR system	Applied Biosystems
Syngene G:BOX Chemi XR5 Chemiluminescence Fluorescence Imaging	G:Box Chemi