Search

(F) Expression of Nanos3, Dazl, Ddx4, Stra8, Uchl1 in Nanos3-/- male pigs (G), and of Nanos3, Dazl, Ddx4, Lhx8, Zp3 in Nanos3-/- female pigs. The anatomy and physiological characteristics of pigs are closer to those of humans than those of other non-primate animals. (E) Genotyping Nanos3-/- #7, Nanos3-/- #1 and Nanos3-/- #51 single cell lines using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). [Extracted from the article]

Leukocytes of the mother sow were also shown a few GFP positive cells, and the second column showed that most of these GFP positive cells were CD3+ cells. We found that 0.043% of GFP positive cells were present in PBMC and 88.3% of these cells were CD3 SP + sp T cells (Figure 1G). To find out whether foetal cells could also circulate through the blood to other organs of the surrogates, we euthanized the sows after delivery and examined the presence of GFP positive cells in other organs by freezing sections (Method S5). The presence of a tiny population of foreign cells or DNA in an organism is known as microchimerism. [Extracted from the article]

Objectives: Immunodeficient mice injected with human cancer cell lines have been used for human oncology studies and anti‐cancer drug trials for several decades. However, rodents are not ideal species for modelling human cancer because rodents are physiologically dissimilar to humans. Therefore, anti‐tumour drugs tested effective in rodents have a failure rate of 90% or higher in phase III clinical trials. Pigs are similar to humans in size, anatomy, physiology and drug metabolism rate, rendering them a desirable pre‐clinical animal model for assessing anti‐cancer drugs. However, xenogeneic immune rejection is a major barrier to the use of pigs as hosts for human tumours. Interleukin (IL)‐2 receptor γ (IL2RG), a common signalling subunit for multiple immune cytokines including IL‐2, IL‐4, IL‐7, IL‐9, IL‐15 and IL‐21, is required for proper lymphoid development. Materials and Methods: IL2RG−/Y pigs were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 technology, and examined for immunodeficiency and ability to support human oncogenesis. Results: Compared to age‐matched wild‐type pigs, IL2RG−/Y pigs exhibited a severely impaired immune system as shown by lymphopenia, lymphoid organ atrophy, poor immunoglobulin function, and T‐ and NK‐cell deficiency. Human melanoma Mel888 cells generated tumours in IL2RG−/Y pigs but not in wild‐type littermates. The human tumours grew faster in IL2RG−/Y pigs than in nude mice. Conclusions: Our results indicate that these pigs are promising hosts for modelling human cancer in vivo, which may aid in the discovery and development of anti‐cancer drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]