High fidelity of phenotype and genotype in serial NOD/SCID pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Primary ALL cells are very difficult to culture in vitro and currently available cell lines only poorly reflect the heterogeneous nature of the disease. Many groups therefore use murine xenotransplantation models for primary pediatric ALL. But, to date it remains unclear as to what extent the characteristics of the original patient leukemia are retained over consecutive xenograft passages or whether there is selection for a clone with characteristics distinct from the bulk leukemia at diagnosis. We here address this question for 7 consecutive leukemias diagnosed in our clinic and directly transplanted onto uncon…