Engraftment of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in SCID mice: in vivo and in vitro studies.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease of the elderly which can present in one of three stages; benign, intermediate or advanced. The molecular events governing the progression of CLL are poorly understood. In order to develop model systems for predicting the aggressiveness of leukemic clones in CLL, in vivo transplantation of SCID mice with CLL cells, and the in vitro growth of CLL cells on mouse and human stromal …