Development of Functional Human NK Cells in an Immunodeficient Mouse Model with the Ability to Provide Protection against Tumor Challenge

Studies of human NK cells and their role in tumor suppression have largely been restricted to in vitro experiments which lack the complexity of whole organisms, or mouse models which differ significantly from humans. In this study we showed that, in contrast to C57BL/6 Rag2(-/-)/gamma(c) (-/-) and NOD/Scid mice, newborn BALB/c Rag2(-/-)/gamma(c) (-/-) mice can support the development of human NK cells and CD56+ T cells after intrahepatic …