Cell transplantation models

A cell transplantation model places cultured or isolated cells into a recipient under controlled conditions to yield quantitative functional or pathologic readouts—engraftment and growth, tissue integration and differentiation, orthotopic tumors and distant metastasis, hematopoietic reconstitution, or adoptive immune-cell efficacy and toxicity.

Distinguish from clinical interventions such as hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT): clinical transplant is medical care, whereas this page covers experimental model design for mechanism and pharmacology studies. Animal work requires IACUC approval and biosafety compliance.

• Autologous

  Donor and recipient are the same individual—minimal rejection; common for regenerative and cell-therapy concept studies.

  Typical readouts: graft survival, functional recovery, local integration

• Allogeneic

  Same species, different individuals—mind MHC matching, immunosuppression, or tolerance induction.

  Typical readouts: engraftment rate, GVHD/rejection, immunosuppression effects

• Xenogeneic / xenograft

  Across species—most often human cells in immunocompromised mice for oncology, immunology, and regeneration.

  Typical readouts: human-cell engraftment, tumorigenesis, humanized immune reconstitution

• Orthotopic

  Into the native anatomic site (e.g. mammary fat pad, intracranial)—microenvironment closer to disease.

  Typical readouts: local growth, invasion, organ-specific metastasis

• Ectopic

  Non-native sites such as subcutaneous or intramuscular—simple and caliper-friendly.

  Typical readouts: subcutaneous tumor volume, early drug screens

• Systemic (i.v. / i.p., etc.)

  Tail-vein, intraperitoneal, and similar routes; i.v. often models lung metastasis or hematopoietic homing.

  Typical readouts: lung colonies, homing, circulating survival

• Intrabone / intracranial and niche sites

  Intratibial/femoral marrow, brain parenchyma—bone/brain metastasis or niche interaction.

  Typical readouts: osteolysis, neurologic signs, in vivo imaging

• Tumor grafts: CDX / PDX

  Cell-line-derived (CDX) or patient-derived (PDX) xenografts for tumorigenesis, drug response, and resistance.

  Typical readouts: tumor volume, pathology, biomarkers

• Metastatic inoculation models

  Track distant colonization after i.v., orthotopic, or intrabone inoculation to study metastasis and anti-metastatic agents.

  Typical readouts: metastatic burden, organ load, survival

• Regenerative / stem-cell transplant

  Hematopoietic, mesenchymal, or pluripotent stem-cell engraftment for reconstitution, repair, and safety.

  Typical readouts: chimerism, tissue repair, teratoma risk (PSC)

• Adoptive immune-cell transfer

  Transfer of T/NK/CAR-T effectors into tumor-bearing or immune models for cytotoxicity and cytokine toxicity.

  Typical readouts: tumor regression, CRS-related metrics, persistence

• Immunodeficient xenograft

  Nude, NSG, and related strains reduce rejection of human cells—standard for CDX/PDX.

  Typical readouts: human graft growth, PK/PD

• Syngeneic

  Genetically matched murine cells into the same strain—intact immunity for immuno-oncology.

  Typical readouts: immune infiltrate, checkpoint response, vaccine efficacy

• Humanized mice

  Reconstitute human immunity/hematopoiesis before human tumor or cell grafts—bridges immune and human-target questions.

  Typical readouts: human immune–tumor crosstalk; bi-specific / cell-therapy evaluation