Figure 1.

Strategies to model AML in mice. There are 2 major approaches to model AML in mice. A particular AML-associated genetic mutation (eg, t(9;11) leading to expression of an MLL-AF9 fusion gene) may be expressed in the hematopoietic system of the mouse either by retroviral transduction of BM cells followed by transplantation, or by engineering the mutation in the germline (either randomly integrated or targeted to the proper locus allowing constitutive or inducible expression, respectively). To model AML with primary patient cells, leukemic cells (or enriched fractions thereof) are transplanted into sublethally irradiated immunodeficient mice of which NOD-scid-IL2rγ^null (NSG) mice are currently the most frequently used strain. AML = acute myeloid leukemia, BM = bone marrow.